Research at a Distance: Area Studies in the Post-Pandemic Era

In anticipation of further restrictions through the summer of 2020, and perhaps even longer, I held an online session with all my graduate advisees to discuss the meaning of fieldwork in a broader context of area studies research. Because of the increasing layers of risks and physical hurdles, on-site studies on foreign countries will be ever more challenging. The number of students who dare to go and visit a place with poor health facilities and hygiene would likely decrease at least for the next couple of years. Toward a Broader Understanding of “Area” A majority of the post-war area studies scholars in the past have traditionally confined themselves to a study of a particular foreign country, including training in language and other cultural skills.