Doctoral Researcher Masato Tanaka

In his doctoral project, Masato Tanaka will explore the formation and reformulation of sectarian antagonism in late Ottoman and French Mandate Lebanon. The project approaches this topic from the socio-economic perspective, focusing on the rising middle class of this period. Through the lens of the cosmopolitan class of economic professionals, the project seeks to highlight how the emergence and remaking of sectarian violence is deeply connected to the long-term transformation of the political economy in the region within the context of Ottoman imperial reform and French colonialism.

Before joining the RTG, he worked in various archives and libraries in Lebanon, France, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. He earned B.A. in Oriental History (2018) and M.A. in Asian History (2020) and completed doctoral coursework in the Department of Asian Studies (2023) at the University of Tokyo. Throughout his studies, he spent one academic year abroad for Arabic language study at An-Najah National University and another academic year for a research stay at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the American University of Beirut. His research interests have focused on the socio-economic transformation in the Levant during the long nineteenth century.