Description
Book SynopsisRecent, unpredictable incidents in diverse locations Paris, Nice, Ankara, Sinai, California, Manchester and London reinforce how governments and scholars must look beneath the surface for understanding of the turbulent post-9/11world. In particular, what does expertise' mean in this new era? This book answers that question? The volume is about a particular kind of expert a type suffering from bad press' for a long time namely, scholars who carry out area-based research. The term expert' itself even comes in for some humor about how it might be defined someone who knows more and more, about less and less, until eventually they know everything about nothing. Behind the old joke is a grain of truth: Expert standing becomes unimpressive to us, in both intellectual and practical terms, when it is seen as parochial and lacking in vision.This volume will explore Area Studies (AS), a prominent type of expertise, along a range of dimensions. As we move towards the third decade in the new m
Trade ReviewThe editors and contributors to this volume are critical of both conventional social scientific practice for its obvious failure to anticipate key developments in the contemporary world, and of traditional area studies research for its a-theoretical and descriptive qualities. Collectively, they advance a compelling case for a ‘New Area Studies’ that embraces comparative and multiple disciplinary perspectives and that seeks to contextualize the impact of globalizing forces in particular places and cases. This timely and provocative volume deserves a wide readership across the social sciences and humanities. -- Munroe Eagles, SUNY Buffalo
Hodgett and James powerfully advocate for the development of New Area Studies (NAS) by demonstrating how productive a re-imagining of traditional area studies can and will be. After surveying critical regions around the world, the deeper dive into a much neglected region of area studies -- Canada -- offers both a salutary example of rethinking old models and a promise of what is to be gained in NAS. An interdisciplinary must-read for an academy in search of new models and modes of knowledge production and transmission. -- Miléna Santoro, Georgetown University
By bringing together a first-rate team of contributors, this consistently stimulating collection gives new life to Area Studies by exploring links and tensions between the local and the global. -- Simon Dixon, University College London
Table of ContentsDedication Acknowledgments Part I – Overview Chapter 1 Introduction: Context – Theorizing the New Area Studies Susan Hodgett, and Patrick James Part II – New Area Studies Around the Globe Chapter 2 New Area Studies in the Borderlands of Asia Mandy Sadan Chapter 3 New Area Studies, the Problem of Russia and ‘Recursive Nationhood’ Stephen Hutchings Chapter 4 Area Studies as Refugee Studies Peter Gatrell Chapter 5 Latin American Studies: What Have We Achieved and Where are We Heading? Christopher Sabatini, and Nicolas Albertoni Gomez Chapter 6 Mastering the Current. Studying Central Asia in the 21st Century Claus Bech Hansen Chapter 7 Muslim World Studies or Middle East Studies? Rob Gleave Chapter 8 Blurring the Boundaries of History and Fiction: Re-imagining the Past and Re-defining the Present through the Lens of Saudi Women Novelists Zahia Smail Salhi and Ibrahim A. I. Alfraih Part III – Canada in Comparative Perspective Chapter 9 TransArea Studies: Gendered Mobility in North American Literature Caroline Rosenthal Chapter 10 Area and Circus Studies: The Case of and for a Boundary Crossing Quebec Charles R. Batson Chapter 11 Figurations of the Border and New Area Studies Claude Denis with Abdelkarim Amengay Chapter 12 The State Against Canadian Studies Colin Coates Part IV – Reflections on New Area Studies Chapter 13 What Have We Learned? Susan Hodgett, and Patrick James About the Contributors
