University of Hawaii Press Remaking Area Studies: Teaching and Learning Across Asia and the Pacific

This collection identifies the challenges facing area studies as an organized intellectual project in this era of globalization, focusing in particular on conceptual issues and implications for pedagogical practice in Asia and the Pacific. ""Remaking Area Studies"" not only makes the case for more culturally sensitive and empowering forms of area studies, but indicates how these ideas can be translated into effective student-centered learning practices through the establishment of interactive regional learning communities. This path breaking work features original contributions from leading theorists of globalization and critics of area studies as currently practiced in the U.S. Essays in the first part of the book problematize the accepted categories of traditional area-making practices. Taken together, they provide an alternative conceptual framework for area studies that informs the subsequent contributions on pedagogical practices. To incorporate critical perspectives from the 'areas studied', chapters examine the development of area studies programs in Japan and the Pacific Islands. Finally, area studies practitioners reflect on their experiences developing and teaching interactive, web-based courses linking classrooms in six universities located in Hawai'i, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, New Zealand, and Fiji. Multi authored chapters draw useful lessons for international collaborative learning in an era of globalization, both in terms of their successes and occasional failures.