New Area Studies, Scientific Communities and Knowledge Production

Download or read book New Area Studies, Scientific Communities and Knowledge Production written by Boike Rehbein and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: In his commentary, Boike Rehbein questions the hegemony that the Global North maintains over the theory and philosophy of science and calls for an epistemological and disciplinary reinvention. The scientific discourse needs to move away from binaries such as global-national and universalism-relativism, as they are misleading in their exclusivity. Rather, Rehbein calls for a multicentric epistemology informed by local sources, perspectives and theories. Area Studies is identified as a key arena of such an epistemological shift, reinventing itself by becoming increasingly comparative and translocal in scope, as well as inter-/trans- or multidisciplinary. In this context, the values and challenges of cooperation in Area Studies are highlighted. Ahsan Kamal praises Rehbein's approach as a concrete contribution to decolonising Area Studies and knowledge production, but urges a constant questioning of the location of the North and South, the authenticity of what is deemed the "local", an