Area Studies conference (24 March 2004)
Date: 29 March, 2004 - 30 March, 2004
Location: Woburn House, 20 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HB
Event type: Conference
Programme | Abstracts | Event report
This event was part of the Area Studies Network, a collaborative project between six partner Subject Centres:
- Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
- English
- Economics
- Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
- History, Classics and Archaeology
- Sociology, Anthropology and Politics
Past event summary
This event was the major conference of the Area Studies Project. The day began with an impassioned plea by former UK Ambassador to Iraq Sir Harold Walker that it is in the national interest that Area Studies programmes are maintained in the UK. In light of current events in Iraq and Afghanistan it is imperative that universities produce graduates who understand the languages and cultures of regions such as the Middle East.
The rest of the day was made up of parallel sessions led by practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines. Themes included discussions on the intellectual endeavour and the place of Area Studies, interdisciplinarity, fieldwork and residence abroad, language learning, and teaching specific subjects on Area Studies programmes. Materials from these sessions is available below.
It has been exciting to see discussion taking place across such a wide variety of disciplines. The conference has helped to strengthen the growing sense of community amongst Area Studies teaching and support staff and has provided a firm foundation for building for future work in Area Studies.
Programme
| 10.30 - 11.00 | Coffee and registration |
| 11.00 - 11.30 | Why the UK needs Area Studies Sir Harold Walker UK Ambassador to Iraq (1990-91) Chairman of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs |
| 11.30 - 12.00 | Group discussions followed by plenary session |
| 12.00 - 13.00 | Parallel sessions 1 |
| Teaching Economics on interdisciplinary programmes Professor Rodney Wilson, University of Durham Anthony Plumridge, University of the West of England Frank Brouwer, London Metropolitan University |
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| Health and Safety in fieldwork and residence abroad Dr David J Nash School of the Environment, University of Brighton |
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| Supporting diverse groups of learners Dr Colin Brooks, University of Sussex |
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| 13.00 - 14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00 - 15.00 | Parallel sessions 2 |
| Searching for a place in Area Studies: the case of American Studies, anglophonism, the QAA and UKCASA Professor Philip Davies, De Montfort University |
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| Tourist-Talk: Languages and Area Studies on Holiday Dr Alison Phipps, University of Glasgow |
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| Interdisciplinary teaching and learning Dr John Canning Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, University of Southampton |
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| 15.00 - 15.15 | Tea |
| 15.15 - 16.15 | Parallel sessions 3 |
| Area Studies: the nature of the discipline Professor R.J. Ellis, Nottingham Trent University |
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| Creating resources for learning and teaching - the case of African studies Dr David Mills, Subject Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics University of Birmingham |
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| Rationales for Language Learning: what's in it for Area Studies? Alison Dickens and Angela Gallagher-Brett, Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, University of Southampton |
Abstracts
Teaching Economics on interdisciplinary programmes
Professor Rodney Wilson, University of Durham
Anthony Plumridge, University of the West of England
Frank Brouwer, London Metropolitan University
In this session three economists shared their experiences of teaching Economics to non-Economics students.
Download presentations:
- Teaching economics to language and area studies students (PowerPoint 90Kb)
- Teaching economics to non-economists (PowerPoint 405Kb)
Health and Safety in fieldwork and residence abroad
Dr David J Nash
School of the Environment, University of Brighton
In today's litigation society, the responsibility for student health and safety during overseas residences and fieldwork is increasingly being placed upon the academic staff who organise, manage or run such activities. This workshop outlines the current position regarding the law and staff liability, and provides seven practical steps which can be taken to ensure that overseas fieldwork or residences abroad are planned and undertaken responsibly and safely. The session concludes with a consideration of scenarios to demonstrate the applicability of these steps.
Interdisciplinary teaching and learning
Dr John Canning
Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, University of Southampton
What defines an interdisciplinary programme (as opposed to a multidisciplinary one)? How does teaching on an interdisciplinary course differ from teaching on a single discipline course? How does interdisciplinarity impact on student experiences of teaching and learning? This session explored some of these issues.
Download presentation: Issues in interdisciplinary teaching and learning (PowerPoint 70Kb)
Further reading: Interdisciplinary teaching and learning in Area Studies
Searching for a place in Area Studies: the case of American Studies, anglophonism, the QAA & UKCASA
Professor Philip Davies
De Montfort University
The suggestion in a QAA consultation document that American Studies be classified as a sub unit of English fired the American Studies community so much that they prompted the only change in the subject listing – the introduction of Area Studies. The American Studies community has remained closely involved in Area Studies policy developments - on the working group that composed the Area Studies subject benchmark, in the LTSN from its early stages, and in the regeneration of a national umbrella group for Area Studies. But American Studies colleagues don't necessarily identify with Area Studies as a discipline.
Tourist-Talk: Languages and Area Studies on Holiday
Dr Alison Phipps
University of Glasgow
Tourism is a major force in intercultural communication. Courses offering languages in the life long learning industry do so by capitalising on the potential for marketing languages for tourist purposes. In addition, there has been a recent rise in the number of holidays packaged as ‘language holidays’, with intensive learning taking place in the holiday destination as part of the holiday. In the field of Tourism Studies and in the field of Modern Languages there is, to date, no research that examines the role played by languages, and language learning in the development of the tourist industry, nor is there a study focusing on the role played by tourism in the language industry.
This workshop presents work currently in progress examining, through ethnography and participant observation, the experiences of learners taking classes in survival languages. It focuses on both the language and the area studies dimensions of the learning and demonstrates the fruitful intersections between language studies, tourism studies and area studies for both teaching and research.
Download presentation: Tourist-talk: Languages and Area Studies on holiday (PowerPoint 2,010Kb)
Supporting diverse groups of learners
Dr Colin Brooks
University of Sussex
Area Studies programmes face a challenge in balancing student choice and academic coherence. For staff engaged in teaching modules which frequently include not only Area Studies students but also students of history, of literature, of sociology (etc.) the challenge can be equally great. This session examines the two challenges and, it is hoped, those attending will contribute to suggesting strategies for meeting them.
Area Studies: the nature of the discipline
Professor R.J. Ellis
Nottingham Trent University
There is a QAA benchmarking statement for Area Studies, a Subject Centre and now a new organisation called UKCASA (United Kingdom Council for Area Studies Associations). But what is the disciplinary nature of Area Studies and what does the future hold for Area Studies?
Creating resources for learning and teaching - the case of African studies
Dr David Mills
Subject Centre for Sociology, Anthropology and Politics, University of Birmingham
This session will build on the workshop 'Teaching and Learning Africa - New themes, techniques and technologies' held in Birmingham in February under the auspices of the Area Studies project. Discussion will focus on the rich set of learning and teaching resources for area studies potentially made available by the internet, and the best ways of incorporating these into existing courses and teaching provision.
Further reading: Why Teaching and Learning Africa? Some background notes
www.africainformation.net/positionpaper1.htm
Rationales for Language Learning: what's in it for Area Studies?
Alison Dickens and Angela Gallagher-Brett
Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies, University of Southampton
This session will present an overview of an ongoing project to research and design a taxonomy of rationales for language learning which will be approved by and disseminated to colleagues in language and language related disciplines. The initiative has grown out of a recent study of the changing face of language learning in 16-19 and in higher education. In 'A new landscape for languages' (Kelly & Jones, 2003) recommend that " Rationales for studying languages should be collected and classified" in order to both inform public opinion on the reasons for studying languages and to contribute to the development of languages curricula by providing a range of clear objectives for the study of languages. This session will discuss current emerging trends in language learning rationales and invite participants to identify rationales implicit in their own curricula and/or student feedback. A particular focus of this session will also be the place of language learning in an Area Studies programme and the contribution that a taxonomy of rationales could make to the Area Studies curriculum.
Download presentation: Rationales for Language Learning: what’s in it for Area Studies? (PowerPoint 167Kb)
