Rethinking and transforming Area Studies and Indian Studies: A new cosmopolitanism and the challenges of planetary realisations

Abstract

Area Studies was an important way of studying different parts of the world after the Second World War that was promoted by US-European academic establishments. This construction emerged after the end of the Second World War and reflected the geopolitical construction of the world into different areas. It formed part of the Cold War environment, applying American social science tools to regional analysis. This essay argues that we rethink and transform such a geopolitical construction of Area Studies. It suggests that we critically engage with the epistemologies of the Euro-American world that lie behind such Area Studies projects in order to transform Area Studies and consider the claims of cosmopolitanism and planetary conversations across borders.