BAIS Area StudiesOverview and importance

By Ugnė Mikalajūnaitė

Overview of the talk

• What is „Area Studies“?– terminology

• Area Studies in BAIS curriculum– areas and languages– core disciplines

• The importance of Area Studies

Area studies in BAIS curriculum

8 offered areas with corresponding languages

East Asia Mandarin, Japanese (Korean)

Latin America Spanish (Portuguese)

Middle-East Arabic (Persian, Turkish)

North America French, Spanish

Russia and Eurasia Russian

South Asia and South-East Asia Hindi, Indonesian, Spanish

Sub-Sahara Africa Swahili, French (Afrikaans)

Western Europe Dutch, French, Spanish (Italian, Portuguese)

Area studies in BAIS curriculum

Economics3rd semester

Culture3rd semester

Politics4th semester

History2nd semester

A language of the chosen

area

What is „Area Studies“?

• ‘Area Studies’ is the term used to describe the multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary study of specific geographical areas of the world. (University of Cambridge)

• An infusion of languages (the humanities) and social sciences (history, sociology, politics...)

The Importance

• Insight view of the area• Broader outlook• Tollerance• Knowledge of a foreign

language• Academic & job

opportunities

Resources

• https://studiegids.leidenuniv.nl/en/studies/show/2214/international-studies

• http://www.llas.ac.uk