Context, Concepts, and Comparison in Southeast Asian Studies

Abstract

This chapter argues that the value of comparative area studies (CAS) depends on some original frame of reference, here the field of Southeast Asian studies. We trace the evolution of this field in view of research on other world regions and general methodological debates. The chapter also highlights the role of CAS in overcoming increasingly rigid methodological divides over such core issues as context-sensitivity and the challenges of comparative research practice. We outline a methodologically pluralist framework of area studies comparisons. This requires methodological bridges between mainstream disciplines and area studies as well as innovative approaches to conceptual problems associated with comparing different regions and cultures. In the process, CAS can also increase attention to non-Western regions, which sometimes get short shrift in theory building in the social sciences. Thus, CAS is in a particularly strong position to mediate the ongoing internationalization and “de-Westernization” of global knowledge.