ABSTRACT
Global studies, as an academic program and pedagogy, has in many ways replaced an older paradigm called “area studies.” Dividing the world into areas based on language and cultures, these older programs of study were created as part of an effort to preempt the spread of communism in the so-called Third World. Knowing about the world during the Cold War was predicated on questions of national security and balance of power. In 1958 the U.S. Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which made federal funds available so that colleges and universities could enhance their science, math, and foreign language courses. The Soviet Union had launched the Sputnik satellite into orbit the previous year, which created a deep sense of urgency among U.S. politicians that the United States had to catch up. Under the auspices of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), which expanded the provisions of NDEA Title VI, government-funded area studies programs began to produce regional specialists, with a particular interest in regions (potentially) under influence of communism. Area studies were conceived as intrinsically interdisciplinary: students would become proficient in the language, history, politics, and culture of any particular region. In order to understand an area in depth, it was therefore necessary to transcend the boundaries of traditional academic departments.
