2. The Author: David Szanton Social anthropologist based in Berkeley, California Worked for: Ford Foundation Social Science Research Council University of California, Berkeley

3. Area Studies: An enterprise seeking to know, analyze and interpret foreign cultures through multidisciplinary lens. Multidisciplinary lens is essential because no single academic discipline is capable of capturing and conveying full understanding of another society and culture.

4. Area Studies US social scientists and humanists proclaim universals Fundamental Role of Area Studies: To deparochialize US- and Euro-centric visions of the world in the core social science and humanities disciplines, among policy makers and in the public at large. Failures due to intellectual institutional and political struggles.

5. Growth of Area Studies in the US Beginning of the 20 th century to WWII Focused on European history and literature, classics and comparative religion Produced no more than 60 PhDs Today Thousands of universities offer different courses related to area studies Hosting of foreign students Overseas research

6. Growth of Area Studies in the US 2 types of Area Studies Units 1. Area Studies departments Usually offer undergraduate degrees Language Literature History Religion Multidisciplinary

7. Growth of Area Studies in the US 2 types of Area Studies Units 2. Area centers Institutes and programs Lecture series; workshops; conferences; research and curriculum development projects etc.

8. What prompted the dramatic internationalization of US higher education? 1950s Western Europe was the only familiar area of the world beyond the US US ignorance of the rest of the world was striking Perceived and direct challenges and threats from Soviet Union, China, and emerging Cold War Prospects of decolonization in Africa and Asia

9. What prompted the dramatic internationalization of US higher education? Many presumed that the adoption of US institutions and procedures would bring rapid development. Western models, examples and techniques might not work at all More culturally and historically contextualize knowledge of other areas in the world was necessary for the US to assist them and to compete against Soviet Union

10. What prompted the dramatic internationalization of US higher education? Major US research universities: - Berkeley-Columbia-Cornell - Chicago-Harvard- Michigan - Pennsylvania- Princeton-Wisconsin - Yale Institutions Foreign Area Fellowship Program Large-scale national competition in support of Area Studies Training in the US Two years of inter-disciplinary and language training on a

11. What prompted the dramatic internationalization of US higher education? Fundings Fullbright Offered teaching and exchange program from 1946 Foreign Area Fellowship Program Offered by Ford Foundation Large-scale national competition in support of Area Studies Training in the US Two years of inter-disciplinary and language training on a selecting country or region of the world Two years for in-depth overseas dissertation research and writeup. Started giving awards in 1951

12. What prompted the dramatic internationalization of US higher education? Other external fundings Fulbright Program ofr Mutal Education and Cultural Exchange Department of Education (language teaching and public service) National Science Foundation National Endowment for the Humanities Private foundations (Mellon, Henry Luce, Tinker) Rockefeller Foundation Carnegie Endowment for International Peace John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation

13. What prompted the dramatic internationalization of US higher education? Dispersion of intellectual interests in Area Studies Evolving political relations of the US to the countries in question The changing interest of public and private funders The academic disciplines and personal and political commitments of the academics in each field The shifting mix of disciplines, and thus methods and debates, that have dominated research fields Evolving relations, debates, and collaborations with scholars within the country or region of study The age of the field The difficulty of learning languages of the region Dramatic events or conflicts within the area The intellectual and political demands of populations from the region residing in the US Ease of access for field, archival, or collaborative research

14. Critiques of Area Studies 1. Simply a political movement 1. Motivated by Cold War  obsolete 2. Component of and support to US hegemony Szanton: With the termination of Cold War in 1991, access to scholars, archives, field studies and collaboration, research agendas have expanded to include fields such as civil society, cultural change, ethnic resurgence, etc.

15. Critiques of Area Studies 2. Merely ideographic - Primarily concerned with descriptions - merely a source of data and information and does not propose theory Author: data collection and theory development are intertwined and interactive. Without a reasonable coherent theoretical structure or narrative in mind, a researcher would not know what to look for, how to interpret it, or how to write up as a publishable article, essay or book

16. Critiques of Area Studies 2. Merely ideographic - Primarily concerned with descriptions - merely a source of data and information and does not propose theory Author: not only have the area studies fields been thick with theory and theoretical debates, but they have also regularly generated theoretical developments and debates within the disciplines as well.

17. Critiques of Area Studies 3. Uncritical use of politically biased categories, perspectives, and theories of colonialist scholar administrator predecessors/ attempt to maintain or expand hegemonic control. Author: It is partly true. (Foucault) political power and position and the generation of knowledge are inevitably entwined.

18. Critiques of Area Studies 4. Globalization - erasing boundaries, and forcing homogenization of localities, cultures and social and economic practices Author: Globalization rarely erases all other social or cultural forms and processes. It produces disparities in power and wealth and its manifestations are always mediated and shaped by local histories, structures and dynamics.

19. Critiques of Area Studies 4. Globalization - erasing boundaries, and forcing homogenization of localities, cultures and social and economic practices Author: dramatic changes in the conceptualization, procedures and to some extent, the programmatic organization of Area Studies are nor resulting from increased recognition of the importance of processes of transnationalism as an element of globalization

20. Suggestions regarding the future evolution of Area Studies, Attention: Population diaspora Recontextualizing the prior focus on the nation-state as the primary actor and ultimate natural unit of international analysis. (NGO, multiple forms of global capitalism, social institutions, etc) Collaboration Well trained Area Studies scholars, as outsiders, may discern significant elements of a society or culture that insiders tend to take for granted.

21. Thank you