area studies
1
5.7
- noun
- /ˈɛəriə ˈstʌdiz/
:
estudios de área
- The university offers several programs in area studies, including Latin American and Asian studies.
- area studies program
- area studies collection
- area studies framework
Examples
-
"Latin America" emerged as an academic area studies program in the aftermath of World War II.
Academic text (2006) -
In all, scholars of the Middle East - like their colleagues in other area studies - feel estranged from American culture.
Academic text (1995) -
Here too, area studies was secondary, and the issue was specifically not cast in a regional framework.
Academic text (2005) -
Let me tell my own story of area studies romance in the 1980s.
Academic text (2006) -
Specific area studies locations seem to invite certain political practices and not others.
Academic text (2006) -
Nevertheless, the concrete demands for solid area studies demand a wider cultural knowledge, including language skills.
Blog text (5) -
The publication of Geographical Dimensions accurately displays the decline of area studies in American geography.
Academic text (2005) -
I began to take that dizzying second look at how my own ethnographic position was shaped by area studies training.
Academic text (2006) -
Acquiring materials from overseas can be challenging, and area specialist librarians must use multi-faceted strategies to build area studies collections.
Academic text (2015) -
As area-study perspectives within geography have diminished, placing area-studies articles in the discipline's top publications has become more challenging.
Academic text (2005)
Synonyms
9
3.0
A subject of learning like biology or history
6
3.0
A part of learning or teaching about one topic
1
3.6
An area of study at a school or university
How Specialized
1
5.7
- Specialized
49
3.3
- Literature
212
3.7
- Literature
241
2.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an academic field focusing on a particular region' is directly and compositionally derived from 'area' (region/domain) + 'studies' (the study of a subject) following the common English pattern 'X studies' = 'the study of X'. This construction is cross-linguistically common and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would very likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Area studies comes from the simple idea of studying an area on a map. Imagine a student learning a place's language, history and politics from different 'subjects', so area studies means studying a particular country or region using many 'subjects'.