Round Tables > Areal Studies

Wednesday, September 22nd, 10am-12pm

Centre de Colloques, Small Auditorium

Organization :Aurélie Varrel (Centre d’Étude de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud – EHESS, directrice du GIS Asie)

Speakers : Camille Goirand (IHEAL CREDA - Université Sorbonne Nouvelle), Philippe Peycam (International Institute of Asian Studies), Éric Vallet (GIS Moyen-Orient Mondes Musulmans, Université de Strasbourg) and Emmanuelle Kadya Tall (Institut des Mondes Africains, IRD)

Presentation : Areal studies are a paradigm that has taken hold in France over the last decade, particularly within the structuration of the GIS (Grouping of Scientific Interests within Africa, Americas, Asia, Middle East and Muslim Worlds). The reality of our research remains marked by national or even regional compartmentalization as well as by a suspi-cion about the legitimacy of the work of those who do not satisfy some criteria (research seniority, language proficien-cy, network insertion, etc.). In the same vein, the opposition between North and South also remains an important divide within the humanities and social sciences. Conversely, seve-ral scientific and institutional incentives push us towards new approaches, summed up by key words like comparatism or transareal studies. We will ask the round table participants to develop they point of view on these contradictions and on what conditions they think they could be overcome.We consider inviting French researchers representing the 4 GIS (the 2 organizers included), and potentially a foreign francophone colleague with an expertise in Area studies. I myself am committed to a multi-situated approach, frequently encountered in research on international migra-tions (India, Gulf countries). I wanted to organize this round table with a young colleague whose fields of studies are Asia (India, Hong Kong) and Africa (Kenya), building a less common bridge between Asia and Africa, and who is affi-liated to the CESSMA, a team who put those questions at the center of one of its structuring scientific axes. 

With the support of the GIS ASIE