Area Studies and the Global South
This area examines the formation and critique of area studies and the rise of 'Global South' as a frame for thinking across regions once defined by colonialism and the Cold War.
Definition
The study of how regions and the 'Global South' are constituted as objects and frames of knowledge, including the critique of area studies and the project of decolonizing research.
Scope
This area covers the institutional history and critique of area studies, the emergence and contestation of the 'Global South' as a concept, indigenous and subaltern knowledges and efforts to decolonize research, and comparative or transregional approaches that cut across established areas. It situates the geopolitics of knowledge production within postcolonial and decolonial debates, complementing the theoretical and literary emphases of the wider subfield.
Sub-topics
Core questions
- How did area studies emerge and whose interests did it serve?
- What does the 'Global South' name, and is it a useful category?
- How can indigenous and subaltern knowledges reshape research?
- What do comparative and transregional approaches reveal beyond fixed areas?
Key theories
- Provincializing Europe
- Dipesh Chakrabarty argued that European categories are both indispensable and inadequate for understanding non-Western histories, calling for histories that displace Europe as the universal model.
- Decolonizing methodologies
- Linda Tuhiwai Smith showed how research itself has been an instrument of colonialism and outlined indigenous-led methodologies that center community sovereignty.
- Geopolitics of knowledge
- Walter Mignolo and area-studies critics analyzed how the division of the world into 'areas' and the placement of the South reflect colonial and Cold War power.
History
Area studies took institutional shape in the United States during and after the Second World War, tied to Cold War strategic interests. From the 1990s, postcolonial and decolonial scholars critiqued its premises, while 'Global South' gradually replaced older terms like 'Third World', and indigenous scholars advanced decolonizing approaches to research and knowledge.
Debates
- The future of area studies
- Scholars debate whether area studies should be dismantled for its Cold War origins or reformed as a transregional and critical enterprise, as the Szanton volume discusses.
- Usefulness of 'Global South'
- Critics question whether 'Global South' is an analytically coherent category or a loose successor to 'Third World', as Dirlik considers.
Key figures
- Dipesh Chakrabarty
- Linda Tuhiwai Smith
- Walter Mignolo
- Arif Dirlik
- David Szanton
Related topics
Seminal works
- chakrabarty2000
- tuhiwaismith1999
- mignolo2005
Frequently asked questions
- What are area studies?
- Area studies are interdisciplinary programs organized around world regions, such as Latin American or Southeast Asian studies, that took institutional form largely in the Cold War United States.
- What does 'Global South' mean?
- It is a term for regions historically marginalized by colonialism and global capitalism, used as a successor to 'Third World' that emphasizes shared experience across continents rather than strict geography.