Area studies, asian studies, and the pacific basin¹

1. One influential study (Walter 2009) suggests that the Philippines “has one of the lowest” number of ethnic minorities in the world. A chapter title is actually titled “The Philippines: Few Ethnic Groups, Many Demands” (at least the last bit is accurate).

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Notes

1. One influential study (Walter 2009) suggests that the Philippines “has one of the lowest” number of ethnic minorities in the world. A chapter title is actually titled “The Philippines: Few Ethnic Groups, Many Demands” (at least the last bit is accurate).

2. I am reminded of one expert of Thailand studying the Patani region explaining that I could not be taken seriously if I do not speak Thai (like him), even though we were in a region that is 80 percent Malay, a language he did not speak. This exemplifies some of the problems with area studies: a senior scholar acting as a gatekeeper, homogenizing the nation, and creating barriers to understanding a population that straddles official borders.

3. This new field has developed academic journals (Journal of the Indian Ocean Region) and research centers (Tufts' Center for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies), as well as nascent international organizations (the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation). The importance of the Indian Ocean as a region was emphasized by the 2004 tsunami.

4. Similarly, van Schendel admits that Zomia as a region could come to “replicate the distortions of area studies” (2002, 665).

5. Okada (2002) details student demands at Princeton for a faculty hire to teach courses on Asian‐America and the ensuing difficulties in placing a hire that did not fit areas or disciplines.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shane J. Barter

Dr. Barter is an assistant professor of Comparative Politics at Soka University of America and is the Associate Director of the Pacific Basin Research Center, Aliso Viejo, California, 92656; [[email protected]].