Geography, globalization, and the problematic of area studies

There has been considerable debate about the challenges and opportunities posed for geographical scholarship by globalization. In similar contexts, however, the discipline's relationship to area studies merits careful review and reworking. Three prospective pathways through this are presented here: the status of geographical knowledge in the aftermath of the critique of orientalism and associated postcolonial departures, debates about language and translation, and attention to the situatedness and operation of perspective in geographical imaginations. Charting these tracks, the article notes obstacles and highlights opportunities.