Formation and Critique of Area Studies
Area studies arose from Cold War strategic needs to know world regions, and its origins and assumptions have been the subject of sustained critique.
Definition
The study of the origins, institutions, and critique of area studies as a way of organizing knowledge about world regions.
Scope
This topic examines the institutional history of area studies and the critiques leveled at it: its emergence in the wartime and Cold War United States, its funding and strategic purposes, and debates over its disciplinary status, Eurocentrism, and future in an age of globalization.
Core questions
- Why and how did area studies emerge?
- Whose interests shaped its agenda and funding?
- Should area studies be reformed, defended, or dissolved?
Key theories
- Cold War origins of area studies
- Immanuel Wallerstein traced area studies to Cold War strategic concerns and analyzed its unintended intellectual consequences for the social sciences.
- Area studies and the disciplines
- The Szanton volume examined how area studies relates to the disciplines, defending its contribution while acknowledging its political genesis.
History
Area studies expanded in the United States after 1945, supported by government and foundation funding to produce regional expertise. From the 1990s, scholars questioned its Cold War premises and debated its place amid globalization and disciplinary change.
Debates
- Future of area studies
- Scholars disagree over whether area studies should be dismantled, defended, or reoriented toward transregional and global frames, as Ludden discusses.
Key figures
- Immanuel Wallerstein
- David Szanton
- David Ludden
Related topics
Seminal works
- szanton2004
- wallerstein1997
Frequently asked questions
- Why were area studies created?
- They were established largely in the Cold War United States to produce expert knowledge of strategically important world regions, supported by government and foundation funding.