Area Studies

The Origins of Area Studies

Today's area studies can be seen as having their origins in the colonial expansion of European powers and the accompanying academic efforts to better understand those “foreign” or “native” societies that demonstrated a variety of languages, cultures, and social organizations hitherto unknown. In this sense, area studies emerged as a “child of empire,” often driven by commercial and political interests or the perceived “civilizing mission” of the colonial powers. At the same time, the study of ancient civilizations, ethnic codes, social hierarchies, or foreign languages was part of the much broader process of the extension of Western science across the globe. While from the mid-18th century, European capitals began to display the treasures and arts of “exotic” civilizations as much as of ancient civilizations in public museums, the 19th century saw the establishment of colonial studies in European universities. In the United States, interdisciplinary centers for area studies first emerged after World War I, and they received a strong impulse after World War II, parallel to the U.S. rise as a global power. A better understanding of societies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America was seen as urgent in the context of the Cold War rivalry between competing superpowers looking for local clients and supporters, particularly in the Third World. (A similar, security-driven incentive to promote the study of foreign cultures was again seen after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.)

The work of German geographer Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was a forerunner of area studies. Von Humboldt was also one of the founding fathers of multidisciplinarity, which then ranged from social to natural sciences. At a later stage, a critical strand of area studies emerged that openly condemned colonial practices. This branch emphasized respect for other cultures, challenged the supposed universality of the Western worldview and the “Eurocentrism” inherent in theories claiming general validity, and advocated mutual learning instead of unilaterally copying Western social or political models.

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