Under globalization, the project of area studies and its
relationship to the fields of cultural, ethnic, and gender studies
has grown more complex and more in need of the rigorous
reexamination that this volume and its distinguished contributors
undertake. In the aftermath of World War II, area studies were
created in large part to supply information on potential enemies of
the United States. The essays in "Learning Places "argue, however,
that the post-Cold War era has seen these programs largely
degenerate into little more than public relations firms for the
areas they research.
A tremendous amount of money flows--particularly within the sphere
of East Asian studies, the contributors claim--from foreign
agencies and governments to U.S. universities to underwrite courses
on their histories and societies. In the process, this volume
argues, such funds have gone beyond support to the wholesale
subsidization of students in graduate programs, threatening the
very integrity of research agendas. Native authority has been
elevated to a position of primacy; Asian-born academics are
presumed to be definitive commentators in Asian studies, for
example. Area studies, the contributors believe, has outlived the
original reason for its construction. The essays in this volume
examine particular topics such as the development of cultural
studies and hyphenated studies (such as African-American,
Asian-American, Mexican-American) in the context of the failure of
area studies, the corporatization of the contemporary university,
the prehistory of postcolonial discourse, and the problematic
impact of unformulated political goals on international
activism.
"Learning Places" points to the necessity, the difficulty, and the
possibility in higher education of breaking free from an entrenched
Cold War narrative and making the study of a specific area part of
the agenda of education generally. The book will appeal to all
whose research has a local component, as well as to those
interested in the future course of higher education generally.
"Contributors." Paul A. Bove, Rey Chow, Bruce Cummings, James A.
Fujii, Harry Harootunian, Masao Miyoshi, Tetsuo Najita, Richard H.
Okada, Benita Parry, Moss Roberts, Bernard S. Silberman, Stefan
Tanaka, Rob Wilson, Sylvia Yanagisako, Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
General
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