VERIFIED
Lesson 1
Areas may be characterized by:
- cultural uniqueness
- conflict
- migration
- identity politics (religion, ethnicity and linguistics)
Areas exist on:
- planets
- mythology
- religious beliefs
- cyber space
Area making:
- Areas are created - areas are rarely given
- their extent or shape is contested
- they change
- human constructs and human interpretations
- not only a form; also a meaning
- diverse way of making and interpreting areas – people can interpret it the same of different
throughout the world
all of this is done largely by people
Types of area making:
1. Discursive area making = language, symbols, maps
2. Inhabitative area making = changed by living in them
3. In-motion area making = mobility, circulation, distribution including restrictions
4. Narrative area making =
5. Territory making = deliberate in/exclusion and governance
Area studies: trans- multi- or a-disciplinary study of areas and especially of people in areas.
Core question: What makes an area?
This approach highlights: the dynamic nature, human constructs, attention to considerations and
difficulties, that areas are temporal and thus historical, and it helps to see order in the immense
variety of scholarly approaches.
What elements makes the ME into an area?
Lecture questions:
1. What is ‘the language of Area Studies’ according to this course?
A: The themes, problems and notions shared across various Area Studies fields
2. Which of the following is not a form of area making
A: contributing to the field of learning. Building a border wall, migration and telling stories
are part of area making.
3. Areas are human constructs. What does this statement mean?
Pagina 1 van 39
, A: Areas are created and given meaning by people
4. Which among the following best describes area studies?
A: transdisciplinary study of areas and especially the people who make those areas,
grounded on expertise in languages, cultures and histories.
5. Why is the questions ‘what makes an area?’ central in this course?
A: It brings out that areas are dynamic, historical human constructs
6. Why can Area studies be called “meta-discipline”?
A: because it is a higher-level field of study that brings together several disciplines
Lecture 2 – Speaking about areas: practices
The coming two lectures are about discursive areas making – area making through language and
other symbolic means, like images and maps
You might assume that area language simply invokes or denotes or describes something out there, in
the world. Usually it is not that straight forward. By talking about a space as an area, by
representing it as an area, area language helps to make areas, in the sense in which we have been
using the word ‘to make’: to create, to maintain, to change, to end. By representing something as an
area, you create or maintain or change understandings – meaning that are supposed (assumed) to
be shared by the users of the language.
Discursive area making can be mainly done through:
- Language – spoken or written
But also through:
- Maps
- Flags
- Certain images – pictures you can see and even touch, but also mental images
- Colours
Like language these other means of portrayal or description, of symbolic representation can be used
to create and evoke the idea, or the feeling, that some space is an area.
The core question is: how do people represent areas, especially through language?
Talk 2a - Words and understanding
Calling something an areas is a fundamental way of making something an area. Performative use of
language: I pronounce you husband and wife’. By saying something you actually do it, and perform it.
What you say is not just description: I’m tired or that is a tree. I pronounce you this or that is
performative. By an extend all language is performative – it helps you experience something in a
certain way. Language creates understandings. Like something is or isn’t an area. This happened snot
just once, but are repeated and form the optic of many conversations. Makes a common sense
understanding. This is not only a matter of language. Like history, population etc. Language is
important in are making and understanding it.
Different words are used for area and used in different context – talks of administrative language.
Words that are used are: area, region (small or world region), land (and sea, ocean – area is not
Pagina 2 van 39
,necessary on land/terrestrial also be arial), territory, country, state, continent and world (includes
virtual world(s) and mythological or fictional). Different universes in which areas are recognized.
Case study – area words.
Words are equivalent for area but in a different language from English. Cultural and different
influences effect the meaning for words.
Indonesia – Java. Which is the most populated island of Indonesia. Here we find a broad range of
area words. Different languages are involved, including Indonesian and Javanese. Area words are
associated with particular cultural spheres, such as administration or religion. In some spheres there
has been radical change over the centuries of Indonesian history, in others less.
General area words – are multi-purpose terms, often geographical. They have cultural
connotations and some are linked to the awareness that these words derive from language
connected with specific religion or civilizations. Such as Arabic is linked to Islam. General area
words are: Dearah = area or region. Benua = continent. Dunia = worlds and bumi = world or
earth. Indonesian area words: kota = city, town. Perkotaan = urban area. Kampung = urban
centre. Desa = village and pedesaan = rural area, countryside.
Territory – wilayah. It comes from Arabic and refers to an area that is subject to control
Nearby area – relational words describe in what way the area in question is connected to
other areas. Desa sekitar = surrounding villages and negara sekitar = surrounding countries.
State, country, kingdom = Malay used negeri to refer to towns as well as countries, but in
Indonesian it is the common word for ‘country’. In Malay negara means ‘state’ and in
Indonesian ‘the state’. Kerajaan means ‘kingdom’. All these words originate from Sanskrit via
earlier forms of Malay or Javanese.
Administrative area – Indonesia has a systematic division into administrative areas of
multiple levels. Provinsi. Kabupaten = regency. Kecamatan = district. Kelurahan = chiefdom.
Desa = village.
Occupied area – jajahan = dependency. Used for Indonesia under Dutch colonialism.
Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms created monuments like the Buddhist stupa of Borobudur. Two of the
many cultural spheres in which area words paly a rile in this period concern regional and
transregional politics, and land and places belonging to religious communities.
The establishment of new political orders in the course of time enriched the vocabulary of the
languages spoken here. Area words are not exception. Many became defunct of disappeared from
everyday speech. Other have remained. The Indonesian vocabulary of area words is therefore
layered. It is process of historical accumulation.
Talk 2b – a basic definition of areas
Definition based on the types of words people use in an area. The kinds of things people refer
to/denote with these words. E few feature are crucial:
Are is a space with a centre (a surface space with a centre) and or boundaries
Characteristics and identity
Subject to power of ownership or jurisdiction – some form of control
The latter, jurisdiction, is property of specific kind of area, a territory. When we do area studies we
are concerned with territories or groupings or territories. Not all areas have clear cut borders. In
some parts areas are more defined by their centres- polycentric. The geometrics of area involve
human shapes an dynamic movements of actions. Where the earth is felt to be a god and goddess
and body of water through which the sun moves = example from one of the readings.
Pagina 3 van 39
, Political ideologies that are linked to areas: nationalism, regionalism, Pan-Asianism, pan-Arabism,
globalism. And area also has characteristics and an identity. The geometrics may be of pollical
debate. Characteristics often has political significance. Area words play a crucial role in the politics of
area.
Talk 2c – the politics of areas discourse
Area discourse = multi-layered and complex. Which discourse you privilege is a matter of
perspectivity. Trans/multidisciplinary: area in a geographical sense is intertwined with other matters:
ethnicity, history, religion, art, state, international politics etc.
Discourse: language use including forms of symbolic representation → Area discourse may have
significant consequences. Differences from one language and culture to another. Also variety within
language and cultures (context or perspective). It changes over time. In short: dynamic.
Articles
Moers 2010 “The world and the geography of otherness in Pharaonic Egypt”.
Ancient Egyptians knew maps, but where not drawn to scale. Othering of maps – people beyond the
Nile are felt to be severely different. The worlds was thought of not as a planet floating through
space, but as a different shape. The Inhabitative world had not borders, but did have frontiers = the
geometries of area. What lays beyond the frontiers was unknown. Moers contestants conceptual
interpretations and real empirical knowledge, but this theoretical contrast does not concern us.
Theoretical level contrast between conceptual representation and real empirical knowledge
The Egyptians favoured the explanatory power of their mythical cosmogony over their actual
empirical geographical knowledge. Egyptian borders were borders of the world and also demarcated
an area of transition between the divine and the worldly spheres. Worldview, geography, and
ethnography go hand in hand → smiting the enemy
What kinds of area were most important in ancient Egyptians ideas about the world?
How are these kinds of area linked to categories of people?
What roles did language and other symbols play in the representation of these areas?
Philips & Valbjorn (2018) “What is in a name? The role of (different) identities in the multiple proxy
wars in Syria”.
Proxy wars = the fighters on the ground are substitutes for other external powers, which remain
behind the scenes. External powers are mostly states.
Our interest in this article is by the examples it provides. Other forms of symbolic representations
are not maps or temporal relief, but: flags, maps, colours or even iconic figures. Names and identity
are real factors, they matter.
What kind of area (levels of area) are key to the conflict?
1. domestic/national
2. Regional – groups and nations
3. Global
How are the categories “national”, “religious”, and “ethnic” used, related to area?
A: national = linked to nation-state
religious = across state boundaries. cross nation-state religious
ethnic = ethno-territorial
How parties are identified in the discourse is largely about such identifications as are
employed in external political circles: their language/area discourse
What do the flags, colours, logos, images, names stand for? Connection with an area?
Pagina 4 van 39
Lesson 1
Areas may be characterized by:
- cultural uniqueness
- conflict
- migration
- identity politics (religion, ethnicity and linguistics)
Areas exist on:
- planets
- mythology
- religious beliefs
- cyber space
Area making:
- Areas are created - areas are rarely given
- their extent or shape is contested
- they change
- human constructs and human interpretations
- not only a form; also a meaning
- diverse way of making and interpreting areas – people can interpret it the same of different
throughout the world
all of this is done largely by people
Types of area making:
1. Discursive area making = language, symbols, maps
2. Inhabitative area making = changed by living in them
3. In-motion area making = mobility, circulation, distribution including restrictions
4. Narrative area making =
5. Territory making = deliberate in/exclusion and governance
Area studies: trans- multi- or a-disciplinary study of areas and especially of people in areas.
Core question: What makes an area?
This approach highlights: the dynamic nature, human constructs, attention to considerations and
difficulties, that areas are temporal and thus historical, and it helps to see order in the immense
variety of scholarly approaches.
What elements makes the ME into an area?
Lecture questions:
1. What is ‘the language of Area Studies’ according to this course?
A: The themes, problems and notions shared across various Area Studies fields
2. Which of the following is not a form of area making
A: contributing to the field of learning. Building a border wall, migration and telling stories
are part of area making.
3. Areas are human constructs. What does this statement mean?
Pagina 1 van 39
, A: Areas are created and given meaning by people
4. Which among the following best describes area studies?
A: transdisciplinary study of areas and especially the people who make those areas,
grounded on expertise in languages, cultures and histories.
5. Why is the questions ‘what makes an area?’ central in this course?
A: It brings out that areas are dynamic, historical human constructs
6. Why can Area studies be called “meta-discipline”?
A: because it is a higher-level field of study that brings together several disciplines
Lecture 2 – Speaking about areas: practices
The coming two lectures are about discursive areas making – area making through language and
other symbolic means, like images and maps
You might assume that area language simply invokes or denotes or describes something out there, in
the world. Usually it is not that straight forward. By talking about a space as an area, by
representing it as an area, area language helps to make areas, in the sense in which we have been
using the word ‘to make’: to create, to maintain, to change, to end. By representing something as an
area, you create or maintain or change understandings – meaning that are supposed (assumed) to
be shared by the users of the language.
Discursive area making can be mainly done through:
- Language – spoken or written
But also through:
- Maps
- Flags
- Certain images – pictures you can see and even touch, but also mental images
- Colours
Like language these other means of portrayal or description, of symbolic representation can be used
to create and evoke the idea, or the feeling, that some space is an area.
The core question is: how do people represent areas, especially through language?
Talk 2a - Words and understanding
Calling something an areas is a fundamental way of making something an area. Performative use of
language: I pronounce you husband and wife’. By saying something you actually do it, and perform it.
What you say is not just description: I’m tired or that is a tree. I pronounce you this or that is
performative. By an extend all language is performative – it helps you experience something in a
certain way. Language creates understandings. Like something is or isn’t an area. This happened snot
just once, but are repeated and form the optic of many conversations. Makes a common sense
understanding. This is not only a matter of language. Like history, population etc. Language is
important in are making and understanding it.
Different words are used for area and used in different context – talks of administrative language.
Words that are used are: area, region (small or world region), land (and sea, ocean – area is not
Pagina 2 van 39
,necessary on land/terrestrial also be arial), territory, country, state, continent and world (includes
virtual world(s) and mythological or fictional). Different universes in which areas are recognized.
Case study – area words.
Words are equivalent for area but in a different language from English. Cultural and different
influences effect the meaning for words.
Indonesia – Java. Which is the most populated island of Indonesia. Here we find a broad range of
area words. Different languages are involved, including Indonesian and Javanese. Area words are
associated with particular cultural spheres, such as administration or religion. In some spheres there
has been radical change over the centuries of Indonesian history, in others less.
General area words – are multi-purpose terms, often geographical. They have cultural
connotations and some are linked to the awareness that these words derive from language
connected with specific religion or civilizations. Such as Arabic is linked to Islam. General area
words are: Dearah = area or region. Benua = continent. Dunia = worlds and bumi = world or
earth. Indonesian area words: kota = city, town. Perkotaan = urban area. Kampung = urban
centre. Desa = village and pedesaan = rural area, countryside.
Territory – wilayah. It comes from Arabic and refers to an area that is subject to control
Nearby area – relational words describe in what way the area in question is connected to
other areas. Desa sekitar = surrounding villages and negara sekitar = surrounding countries.
State, country, kingdom = Malay used negeri to refer to towns as well as countries, but in
Indonesian it is the common word for ‘country’. In Malay negara means ‘state’ and in
Indonesian ‘the state’. Kerajaan means ‘kingdom’. All these words originate from Sanskrit via
earlier forms of Malay or Javanese.
Administrative area – Indonesia has a systematic division into administrative areas of
multiple levels. Provinsi. Kabupaten = regency. Kecamatan = district. Kelurahan = chiefdom.
Desa = village.
Occupied area – jajahan = dependency. Used for Indonesia under Dutch colonialism.
Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms created monuments like the Buddhist stupa of Borobudur. Two of the
many cultural spheres in which area words paly a rile in this period concern regional and
transregional politics, and land and places belonging to religious communities.
The establishment of new political orders in the course of time enriched the vocabulary of the
languages spoken here. Area words are not exception. Many became defunct of disappeared from
everyday speech. Other have remained. The Indonesian vocabulary of area words is therefore
layered. It is process of historical accumulation.
Talk 2b – a basic definition of areas
Definition based on the types of words people use in an area. The kinds of things people refer
to/denote with these words. E few feature are crucial:
Are is a space with a centre (a surface space with a centre) and or boundaries
Characteristics and identity
Subject to power of ownership or jurisdiction – some form of control
The latter, jurisdiction, is property of specific kind of area, a territory. When we do area studies we
are concerned with territories or groupings or territories. Not all areas have clear cut borders. In
some parts areas are more defined by their centres- polycentric. The geometrics of area involve
human shapes an dynamic movements of actions. Where the earth is felt to be a god and goddess
and body of water through which the sun moves = example from one of the readings.
Pagina 3 van 39
, Political ideologies that are linked to areas: nationalism, regionalism, Pan-Asianism, pan-Arabism,
globalism. And area also has characteristics and an identity. The geometrics may be of pollical
debate. Characteristics often has political significance. Area words play a crucial role in the politics of
area.
Talk 2c – the politics of areas discourse
Area discourse = multi-layered and complex. Which discourse you privilege is a matter of
perspectivity. Trans/multidisciplinary: area in a geographical sense is intertwined with other matters:
ethnicity, history, religion, art, state, international politics etc.
Discourse: language use including forms of symbolic representation → Area discourse may have
significant consequences. Differences from one language and culture to another. Also variety within
language and cultures (context or perspective). It changes over time. In short: dynamic.
Articles
Moers 2010 “The world and the geography of otherness in Pharaonic Egypt”.
Ancient Egyptians knew maps, but where not drawn to scale. Othering of maps – people beyond the
Nile are felt to be severely different. The worlds was thought of not as a planet floating through
space, but as a different shape. The Inhabitative world had not borders, but did have frontiers = the
geometries of area. What lays beyond the frontiers was unknown. Moers contestants conceptual
interpretations and real empirical knowledge, but this theoretical contrast does not concern us.
Theoretical level contrast between conceptual representation and real empirical knowledge
The Egyptians favoured the explanatory power of their mythical cosmogony over their actual
empirical geographical knowledge. Egyptian borders were borders of the world and also demarcated
an area of transition between the divine and the worldly spheres. Worldview, geography, and
ethnography go hand in hand → smiting the enemy
What kinds of area were most important in ancient Egyptians ideas about the world?
How are these kinds of area linked to categories of people?
What roles did language and other symbols play in the representation of these areas?
Philips & Valbjorn (2018) “What is in a name? The role of (different) identities in the multiple proxy
wars in Syria”.
Proxy wars = the fighters on the ground are substitutes for other external powers, which remain
behind the scenes. External powers are mostly states.
Our interest in this article is by the examples it provides. Other forms of symbolic representations
are not maps or temporal relief, but: flags, maps, colours or even iconic figures. Names and identity
are real factors, they matter.
What kind of area (levels of area) are key to the conflict?
1. domestic/national
2. Regional – groups and nations
3. Global
How are the categories “national”, “religious”, and “ethnic” used, related to area?
A: national = linked to nation-state
religious = across state boundaries. cross nation-state religious
ethnic = ethno-territorial
How parties are identified in the discourse is largely about such identifications as are
employed in external political circles: their language/area discourse
What do the flags, colours, logos, images, names stand for? Connection with an area?
Pagina 4 van 39
