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

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.