Australia's Distinctiveness in a Globalizing World : Towards a New Area Studies

抄録

Stimulated by Martha C. Nussbaum's book, Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education (1997), we propose a revitalization of area studies programs in universities, to encourage them to respond to the profound academic challenges now being thrown up by globalization. The paper sketches a critique of conventional area studies in favor of the kinds of 'internationalizing' curricula advocated by Professor Nussbaum- and by many others, including some leading scholars in Asia-e.g., Singapore's Professor Wang Gungwu. In the light of Nussbaum's recommendations, we outline a new approach to Australian Studies in Japanese universities. This approach is based on what we identify as Australia's distinctiveness in a globalizing world. We suggest that this distinctiveness has three core components: (1) Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians; (2) Australian multiculturalism (e.g., as a micro-model for global citizenship); (3) Australia's European cultural heritage in proximity to Asia (e.g., modeling the politics of recognition). We propose that Australian Studies programs in Japanese universities are justified on two important grounds-viz., (A) Acknowledging that the Japan-Australia relationship can (and should) be broadened and deepened, and by (B) Integrating Australian Studies in Japan into a renewed area studies framework.