CIAO DATE: 04/02

Assessing Scholarly Communication in the Developing World: It Takes More Than Bytes

Introspection often characterizes social science scholarship. However, the last decade of the 20th century witnessed a particularly intense period of self-evaluation, as alternative views of social relations questioned the very essence of social science investigation and practice. Nowhere has the postmodern critique had greater impact than in area studies. Essays written by scholarly administrators (Kasaba, 1998; Prewitt, 1996) detail challenges posed and responses offered to issues such as diaspora, economic neoliberalism and studying "the other." The activities and studies described in this working paper are part of that ongoing introspection, one that seeks to integrate area studies' traditional concerns for discrete language and cultural knowledge into a view of the world that breaks down its equally traditional geographical boundaries.

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