The politics of knowledge : area studies and the disciplines / edited by David Szanton.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Szanton, David L., 1938-

Class of 1932 Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Area studies.

Physical Description:

ix, 425 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, [2004]

Summary:

The usefulness and political implications of Area Studies programs are currently debated within the Academy and the Administration, where they are often treated as one homogenous and stagnant domain of scholarship. The essays in this volume document the various fields' distinctive character and internal heterogeneity as well as the dynamism resulting from their evolving engagements with funders, US and international politics, and domestic constituencies. The authors were chosen for their long-standing interest in the intellectual evolution of their fields. They describe the origins and histories of US-based Area Studies programs, highlighting their complex, generative, and sometimes contentious relationships with the social science and humanities disciplines and their diverse contributions to the regions of the world with which they are concerned.

Contents:

Latin American studies : theory and practice / Paul W. Drake and Lisa Hilbink

The Middle East in the past and future of social science / Timothy Mitchell

Area studies in search of Africa / Pearl T. Robinson

Japanese studies : the intangible act of translation / Alan Tansman

Soviet and post-Soviet area studies / Victoria E. Bonnell and George W. Breslauer

Eastern Europe or Central Europe? Exploring a distinct regional identity / Ellen Comisso and Brad Gutierrez

The transformation of contemporary China studies, 1977-2002 / Andrew G. Walder

South Asian studies : futures past / Nicholas B. Dirks

The development of Southeast Asian studies in the United States / John Bowen.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1932 Fund.

ISBN:

0520245369

OCLC:

56421941