6/10/2023 0 Comments Area studies“The idea behind such projects is usually to identify regional patterns and to compare them to each other.” (Basedau/Köllner 2006: 11) Inter-regional comparisons serve mainly to describe and analyse similarities and differences in the paths, sequences, relevant actor constellations and outcomes of important trends in global development (e.g. By using CAS-based approaches in individual areas, the GIGA is reinforcing its pioneering image, but the institute needs to continue to promote CAS-informed methods among area studies communities worldwide. Intra-regional comparisons usually have the advantage that a number of background conditions pertaining to geography, climate, history and culture are frequently broadly similar. “Aspects or phenomena of different geographical entities within a given region are compared.” (Basedau/Köllner 2006: 11) CAS can also be pursued within just one area. Cross-regional comparisons usually focus on the country level, but could also be carried out on a sectorial and sub-national level. Cross-regional studies are demanding in terms of both field knowledge and methodological rigour. “Cross-regional studies involve the comparison of analytical units across different regions.” (Basedau/Köllner 2006: 12) It is clearly the specific strength of the GIGA to be capable of engaging in cross-regional comparisons, thanks to our matrix structure regarding area studies expertise. Mutually enriching the theoretical and conceptual repertoires, analytical frameworks, and methodological toolboxes of the disciplines and area-specific studies in question,įinding out whether both social phenomena and theories are geographically and/or culturally bound,ĭelimiting the scope of concepts by determining whether – and how far – these concepts can ‘travel’,ĭeveloping and forming new theories and concepts on the basis of comparative, context-sensitive evidence,ĬAS can be seen as the missing link between globally generalising, cross-country studies, on the one hand, and individualising, empirically "thick" case studies, on the other. We believe that contextually-informed and methodologically sound CAS benefit both the social-science disciplines and area-specific studies. Hence, the cognitive interest of CAS encompasses generalisation as well as specification. an awareness of both the potentially variable geometry of areas and the well-founded criticism of certain traditional notions of spatiality.Ĭomparative Area Studies (CAS) is a scholarly field of study that combines the context sensitivity and knowledge of area studies with the explicit use of comparative methods as the appropriate means to generate bothĬontributions to broader disciplinary and theoretical debates, and The CAS approach also benefits from a conscious use of the notion of "area", i.e. The constitutive elements of CAS are a strong context sensitivity/expertise, and an explicit and systematic comparative approach.
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