Area Studies and the crisis of legitimacy: a view from South East Asia

Abstract

In this paper, we set out Area Studies’ ‘crisis of legitimacy’, focusing on South East Asia. We distil this crisis down to three broad areas: ‘weak rules’ (the absence of an intellectual core), ‘hard borders’ (in the context of globalization) and ‘ancestral sin’ (Area Studies’ origins in the global North). We then use these as a springboard to explore three ways in which scholars have sought to address the crisis: the Inter-Asia initiative, process studies and comparativism, and the inter-Asia cultural studies movement. We conclude by arguing that Area Studies needs to adopt four doctrinal positions if it is to move forward. To treat regions as open and porous; to accept that regions are constantly in flux and not foundational; to be open and responsive to trans-regional comparative engagements; and to embrace deep inter-disciplinarity.

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