While presenting a historical outline of the genesis, growth and development of Area Studies as a discipline, this paper focuses on its possible re-configuration in relation to the contemporary processes of globalization. At a time, when there is considerable scholarly scepticism regarding the continued consideration of the nation-state as a preeminent framework for understanding society and culture (something Area Studies has historically done), it is legitimate to interrogate the theoretical and methodological wherewithal of Area Studies with a view to contribute to its self-reflexitivity. Even as the various accounts of the institutional histories of Area Studies present it as a non-starter in the context of the higher education system in India, this paper underlines the need to address the broader questions concerning the production of knowledge and the politics behind its subsequent disciplinary location. In this sense, this paper can also be looked at as a modest attempt towards a conceptual history of Area Studies in India amidst the prevailing pre-occupation with institutional narratives.

Globalization has become a fashionable term since about the mid-1980s. As a catch—all term to make sense of the contemporary phenomena and processes, it has captured the imagination of both the experts and the public. Social scientists never get tired of waxing eloquent on its virtues and vices. However, there is no consensus even on a working definition on globalization among scholars. As the concept is intended to cover a great variety of changes in socio-economic-politico-cultural domain, naturally, it implies different things to the practitioners of different disciplines.

Social scientists (especially economists) worry about whether markets and deregulation produce greater wealth at the price of increased inequality. Political scientists worry that their field might vanish along with their favorite object, the nation-state, if globalization truly creates a world without borders. Cultural theorists, especially cultural Marxists, worry that in spite of its conformity with everything that they already knew about capital, there may be some embarrassing new possibilities for equity hidden in its workings. Historians, ever worried about the problem of the new, realize that globalization may not be a member of the familiar archive of large-scale historical shifts.

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