On the Future of Area Studies in China

As China's global footprint continues to grow, Chinese actors have been confronted with a growing need to know the world. This led to the emergence of the field of Area Studies in China, which both seeks to know and to produce experts who know about other regions and countries. This talk critically examines the political and economic process of the recent desciplinisation of Area Studies with the Chinese academic system. It assesses the potential characteristics of "Chinese Area Studies" as part of China's national knowledge production system. Drawing comparisons with historical and contemporary Area Studies in other countries, it explores the possibility of Chinese Area Studies developing along the three major trajectories in the future: "globalising", "decolonising" and "nationalising".