Pacific Studies is an interdisciplinary field that began in the twentieth century in Australia, Aotearoa, and the United States (Mawyer et al., 2020). The field sought to understand the area and region of Oceania, but later, many scholars took more critical approaches to Pacific Studies. These approaches have provided more perspectives from those…

This citation analysis examines the ability of the local collection at the Pennsylvania State University to meet the needs of global and area studies researchers focusing on monographs published by faculty members on Latin American studies in a ten-year period. The study focuses on book use to address the tempting notion that packages and online…

Recent calls for university administrators to advance interdisciplinary research and teaching have suggested that allocating campus space to such initiatives is key to their success. Yet questions remain concerning just what kinds of spaces are most conducive to this agenda. This article aims to shed light on this relationship by drawing on case…

Graduate education in the humanities struggles with weighty traditions, constrained (fiscal) resources, and a legacy of elitism and cultural homogeneity. As the makeup of graduate students becomes ever more diverse in terms of income, ethnicity, sexuality, citizenship, and disability, graduate programs are working through the challenges and…

No one doubts that globalization is one of the most important trends of today. As American universities expand their global footprint with branch campuses in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and elsewhere, many faculty are concerned about oppressive governance, human-rights violations, and lack of academic freedom abroad. Meanwhile administrators grapple…

Quality assurance in UK higher education has maintained a very strong disciplinary bias. This brings about important challenges in assessing the quality of multidisciplinary courses as well as assessing the quality of the student experience of joint honours and combined honours degree courses. Area studies is a critical case of…

Like religious studies, Jewish studies is an academic exploration of literature, ritual, history, philosophy, and experience across disciplinary boundaries. As with all area studies, Jewish studies balances itself--often precariously--as a bridge across that range of methodological options. The breadth of theories employed by each has complicated…