ABSTRACT

THE IMPORTANCE OF AREA STUDIES
AZMAT HAYAT KHAN
 

International relations represent the study of foreign affairs and global issues among states within the international system. In today's increasingly interdependent and turbulent world, many of the leading issues concern international affairs. International relations enables to reflect in a systematic and informed way on the important international issues and gives the opportunity to develop focused knowledge and understanding in specialized areas.

Area studies is a generic term applied to the study of the society or societies of a given geographical space. The term covers national areas under titles such as American studies or Australian studies, and bi-national or multi-national regions, under titles such as African studies, European studies, Pacific studies and Central Asian Studies. The empirical content of area studies programs therefore varies widely. Programs in area studies are multidisciplinary (grounded in two or more different academic disciplines) and/or interdisciplinary (explicitly integrating two or more disciplines). Area studies programs are uniquely situated to provide rich opportunity for the integration of knowledge and suitable approaches in a focused study of a particular society or region.

Area study is interdisciplinary field of research and scholarship pertaining to a particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural region. The term exists primarily as a general description for what is many heterogeneous fields of research.
Area studies often involve the disciplines of history, political science, sociology, cultural studies, languages, geography, literature, and other fields. Interdisciplinary area studies became increasingly popular in the United States and Western scholarship after World War II.

Some entire institutions of higher education (tertiary education) are devoted solely to area studies such as School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the University of London, or the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan or Area Study Centre (Russia, China and central Asia) University of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Area studies programs provide dynamic and diverse opportunities for students to focus their learning on parts of the world for which they feel a strong intellectual curiosity. Higher Education Institutions the world over offer a wide range of area studies courses with great diversity in terms of geography but also with regard to intellectual tradition and motivation: some have a social sciences focus, others are located in humanities; some aim for contemporary coverage, others historical.

The multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary nature of area studies provides a rich, rewarding and diverse student experience. Area studies students gain parallel and
complementary knowledge and skills in programs that frequently offer the possibility of study abroad. Area studies students operate across disciplines, learning how to integrate a variety of approaches in formulating and solving problems, and using diverse materials and information sources.

Area studies degrees provide a means for students to acquire specialized regional knowledge while also developing the intellectual skills and qualities of mind.
Area studies programs offer valuable educational pathways by giving prominence to the
distinctiveness and significance of specific areas, and fostering a critical awareness of diversity across societies, both past and present. Area studies has a particular contribution to make in the context of the increasingly globalized nature of the world. With globalization come new questions about local identity, and area studies is centrally placed to consider the issues that emerge from the interplay between the global and the local. Area studies students acquire transferable skills that are valuable in many aspects of work.

Area studies graduates provide a repository of regional knowledge and the intellectual skills to apply it using various methodologies. This specialist expertise is important to government, business and citizenry in a world where international awareness is increasingly necessary. Area studies programs encourage in their graduates a strong sense of perspective and flexibility in thinking, and they are attuned to diversity. All of these features have strong employer appeal in a multicultural society.

There is a synthesizing impulse in area studies which can work across, as well as interrogate, traditional discipline boundaries in innovative ways. Area studies is well positioned to respond to new issues and academic debates with both tried and emerging methodologies. These are major strengths of the field, giving it vitality.

Area studies programs can be distinguished from applied programs of the types which carry terms such as European law, Middle-Eastern politics, or American literature. The primary objective of such programs is typically to train students in the concepts and methods of a single discipline, while giving particular emphasis to the application of that discipline to the society or societies of a specific geographical area. The principal objective of area studies programs is to study the area itself, using whichever disciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches are most appropriate to understand the aspects of the area on which they wish to concentrate.

Area studies programs involve in-depth study of single countries or groups of countries. When programs cover multi-state regions such as Central Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa, they may involve explicit or implicit comparative study of societies within the region, international relations of those societies with each other and with states outside the region, as well as the transnational processes affecting those societies.

Since area studies is multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary the field covers a wide range of subject materials and methods of study. Characteristically, area studies develops a broad and complementary range of knowledge and of intellectual abilities. Generally Students are introduced to the area they are studying within a coherent framework defined by the program provider. Some area studies courses have a contemporary flavor while others pay greater attention to historical perspectives: all enable students to develop a good knowledge of their area, to locate and access. Information and to make appropriate and effective use of information from various sources, including libraries and the internet. In many area studies programs, students are expected to develop specific skills in a language other than English.

Area studies has established firm footing in many universities around the globe. With steadily rising enrollments, expanding numbers of departments, and a robust publishing field, area studies steps into the 21 st century as young yet successful field.

 

Presented a key note address in a conference, “State of International Relations in Pakistan” organized by the Department of International Relations, University of Karachi in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission and Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad at the Arts Auditorium on March 26-27, 2008.
Director, Area Study Center for Central Asia, University of Peshawar.

 

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