REVIEWS 393 Milutinović, Zoran (ed.). The Rebirth of Area Studies: Challenges for History, Politics and International Relations in the 21st Century. I. B. Tauris, London and New York, 2020. viii + 216 pp. Table. Notes. Bibliographies. Index. $115.00. This is an excellent edited volume which makes a compelling case that ‘the declaration of Area Studies’ death was premature’ (editor’s introduction, p. 1). As Milutinović explains, Area Studies was declared to be passé for a number of reasons: because globalization had unified and homogenized the world; because Area Studies were too complicit in Cold War political projects; because they lacked ‘a specific method and a clear and unique object’ and because they were deemed incapable of theory-building (pp. 1–2). As this volume shows, these criticisms are all misplaced. It is hard to see anyone standing by that argument in these years of COVID and right-wing populism. In any case, Milutinović rightly observes that the effects of globalization always manifests in locally varied ways (p. 2). As for the second criticism, while it is true that Area Studies expanded during the Cold War period, so did other disciplines. The knowledge production of other disciplines has been used for political ends as well. Meanwhile, many Area Studies scholars have been able to subvert and criticize these power dynamics (p. 4, pointing also to the chapter by Wendy Bracewell in this volume). Milutinović also notes that Area Studies benefits multi-disciplinary and mixed method approaches. But even more than that, Area Studies bring something unique to the table of knowledge production: ‘without knowing what people from an area make of their world — or how they create their world, understood not as the mere physical environment, but as web of meanings — there is no understanding of the social and political world we attempt to study’ (p. 6). Finally, he notes that what is an ‘area’ is not fixed and this gives scholars the freedom to let research problems be their guide (p. 6). The high bar set by Milutinović in his introduction is met by the contributions that follow, which give the reader both a new perspective on the history of Area Studies and more reasons to fight for their continued existence. In chapter two (‘Twenty-first century Area Studies: Blurring genres, evolutionary thought and the production of theory’), Susan Hodgett discusses how Area Studies has evolved since the 1990s, arguing that it ‘is undergoing a period of rich intellectual curiosity, a boundary-crossing productivity, while playing an acknowledged role in informing and supporting other disciplines’ (p. 19). In chapter three (‘How to think about ‘area’ in Area Studies?’), Jan Kubik advances a novel understanding of ‘area’ based on an approach he calls ‘contextual holism’. In chapter four (‘Eastern Europe, with or without borders’), Wendy Bracewell shows that the ambiguities around the term SEER, 99, 2, APRIL 2021 394 ‘Eastern Europe’ help us think about Area Studies in general. It is also my observation that people who work on Eastern Europe and/or the post-Soviet spaces have made some of the most interesting contributions to debates about Area Studies, and the profile of contributors in this volume also confirms this pattern. In chapter five (‘Disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and the plurality of Area Studies: A view from the social sciences’), Mark R. Beissinger outlines the ways Area Studies remains essential to social sciences today, even as that relationship has been transformed from what it used to be in the Cold War period. In chapter six (‘Comparative Area Studies without comparisons: What can Area Studies learn from Comparative Literature?’), Zoran Milutinović tells Area Studies scholars to take a cue from Comparative Literature and to stop worrying about their identity — embrace the uncertainty and pluralism instead. As an IR scholar, I cannot help but think there are other fields besides Area Studies who could use this advice. In the last chapter (‘Rethinking Area Studies: Figurations and the construction of space’), Claus Bech Hansen deploys the figurations approach of Norbert Elias to mount a defence of Area Studies in the twenty-first century. In sum, this is a book that should be of great interest not only to Area Studies scholars but also anybody who...