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Regional Worlds ProgramThe Regional Worlds program at the University has been designed to create new linkages between area studies and cultural studies and to develop a fresh approach to area studies. This component of the Project is, in part, a direct response to the call from scholars, funders and policymakers for the development of new ways of teaching about global histories, cultures, and societies in the aftermath of the Cold War.Regional Worlds builds on the outstanding existing resources in international studies at the University of Chicago and has several innovative features. First, it is both interrregional and interdisciplinary - faculty and students from a range of departments and area affiliations participate. Second, it focuses on teaching itself - the Project is working to create new curricular materials and classroom procedures for post-secondary area studies teaching. Third, faculty from colleges in the region are involved in all the program's activities. These competitively-selected Midwest Faculty Fellows collaborate in generating new curricular approaches. the pilot year of Regional Worlds focused on "Reconceptualizing South Asia," both in terms of its history and geographical boundaries. Themes for subsequent years of the program include "Latin America: Cultural Environments and Development Debates," "East Asia: Modernism, Media and Ideologies of Regionalism" and "Diasporas, Minorites, and Counter-Geographies".
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