Origins and Evolution of a Geographical Idea; The Macroregion in China  

Oleh:

Cartier, Carolyn

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Modern China vol. 28 no. 1 (Jan. 2002), page 79-142.
Topik: The Macroregion in China
Fulltext: 79MC281.pdf (345.96KB)

Isi artikel

Questions about the evolution of paradigms in the academy are intriguing because their development may reflect prevailing social formations as much or more than new discoveries or truths, particularly in the humanities and in branches of the social sciences in which epistemologies reflect howscholars choose to assemble and construct knowledge. In the field of China studies, the situation is more complex; even while acknowledging debates over the social construction of knowledge, historians of China have arguably treated paradigm shifts as if scientific methods from the “natural sciences provide a model of knowledge, research, and explanation” (Dirlik, 1996: 245). But translating scientific theory into humanistic research creates particular epistemological problems for paradigm development. In area studies research, epistemological divides between the disciplines and area studies, as well as between empirical work and theoretical applications, can obscure a paradigm’s origins and complicate its evolution. The so-called crisis in area studies (see Rafael, 1994; Barlow, 1997; Abraham and Kassimir, 1997; Cumings, 1997a, 1997b; Scott, 1997)—the undermining of the nation-state as the dependable and bounded unit of analysis, brought about by contemporary forces of globalization, consequent dynamic local spatialities, and poststructural and postmodern theoretical responses—makes bridging these divides and formulating appropriate methodological approaches particularly urgent.

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