What Comparative Area Studies (CAS) Brings to the Table

Open lecture with Rudra Sil, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and SAS Director of the dual-degree Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business.

How can a “Comparative Area Studies” (CAS) perspective, seeking to retain and utilize in-depth knowledge from area-based training and expertise while encouraging comparisons with cases from less familiar areas, contribute to novel interpretations and middle-range analysis in social science research? In this talk, Professor Rudra Sil will share insights from his recent book, Advancing Comparative Area Studies: Analytical Heterogeneity and Organizational Challenges (Oxford University Press, 2025), to showcase how CAS can accommodate a broader range of area-based scholarship predicated on more varied methodological and epistemological principles. This includes not only contextualized comparisons of countries from different regions but also interpretive work, sub-national comparisons, as well as inter-regional comparisons addressing topics such as global human rights and the rise of regional powers that go beyond comparative politics.

See our website for more information: https://www.ace.lu.se/calendar/what-comparative-area-studies-cas-brings-table-leveraging-and-integrating-area-based-knowledge

You may also like the following events from Asian Studies, Lund University:

• Next month, 17th September, 03:15 pm, Gender, Families, and Wealth Accumulation Among Only Daughters in Lund
• Next month, 24th September, 03:15 pm, Dilemma and legal advocacy in South Korean queer activism in Lund

Also check out other Workshops in Lund.