主管单位:中国科学技术协会
主办单位:中国地理学会
承办单位:华东师范大学

世界地理研究 ›› 2025, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (3): 23-36.DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-9479.2025.03.20250010

• 地理学与区域国别研究专辑 • 上一篇    下一篇

论区域国别学的学科性质与发展困境

王丰龙1(), 胡志丁2,3,4, 梁育填5, 彭飞6, 宋涛7,8, 黄宇9   

  1. 1.华南师范大学地理科学学院/行政区划与空间治理研究中心,广州 510631
    2.华东师范大学地理科学学院,上海 200241
    3.华东师范大学,世界地理与地缘战略研究中心,上海 200062
    4.华东师范大学,全球创新与发展研究院,上海 200062
    5.中山大学地理科学与规划学院/区域国别研究院,广州 510275
    6.辽宁师范大学海洋可持续发展研究院/东北亚海洋地缘环境与区域国别研究中心,大连 116029
    7.中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所,北京 100101
    8.中国科学院大学资源与环境学院,北京 100049
    9.中国科学院青藏高原研究所/青藏高原地球系统与资源环境全国重点实验室,北京 100101
  • 收稿日期:2024-11-09 修回日期:2024-12-30 出版日期:2025-03-15 发布日期:2025-03-26
  • 作者简介:王丰龙(1988—),男, 博士,研究员,主要从事政治地理学、幸福地理学和地理学思想等研究。E-mail: flwang@m.scnu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金项目(42171225);教育部人文社会科学重点研究基地重大课题(22JJD790032);广州市基础研究计划基础与应用基础研究项目(2023A04J0911);广东省自然科学基金面上项目(2024A1515012338)

On the disciplinary nature and development challenges of country and area studies: A geographical perspective

Fenglong WANG1(), Zhiding HU2,3,4, Yutian LIANG5, Fei PENG6, Tao SONG7,8, Yu HUANG9   

  1. 1.School of Geography/ The Center of Administrative Division and Spatial Governance, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
    2.School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
    3.a Center for World Geography and Geostrategic Studies, 3b. Institute for Global Innovation and Development, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
    4.School of Geography and Planning/ Institute of International and Regional Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
    5.Institute of Marine Sustainable Development/Northeast Asian Marine Geopolitical Environment and Regional Studies Center, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116029, China
    6.Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
    7.School of Resources and Environment, University of CAS, Beijing 100049, China
    8.State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System/ Environment and Resources (TPESER), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2024-11-09 Revised:2024-12-30 Online:2025-03-15 Published:2025-03-26

摘要:

区域国别学在被确立为交叉学科类一级学科后,其学科建设引发了来自外国语言文学、政治学、世界史、经济学和人类学等学科学者的积极关注和热烈讨论。然而,地理学家相对较少参与其中。笔者认为,地理学者也应该积极参与区域国别学学科发展的讨论,加强地理学和区域国别学之间的对话。为此,本文在系统梳理当前关于区域国别学学科建设相关讨论的基础上,从地理学的视角和学科发展历程出发,重新界定区域国别学的学科性质和研究对象,认为区域国别学是在跨学科的视角下对特定区域或国家的情报(或国情)搜集整理并针对具体利益(或威胁)的战略研究的结合,其研究对象可以基于区域划分、要素分解和应用需求导向3个维度来界定。笔者进一步反思了区域国别学学科建设面临的四大矛盾——旨在打破学科制限制的跨学科视角与本身作为一门学科需要明确学科边界的矛盾,区域的范围划分和尺度选择时面临的国别-区域、全覆盖-重点区域、内部特征-外部联系的取舍矛盾,注重区域特殊性的背景性知识生产与超越“例外论”的普适性理论研究的矛盾,以及注重田野调查与超越调查的成本限制和尺度陷阱的矛盾。立足地理学的综合性和尺度思维,为区域国别学解决上述矛盾提供了建议,并进一步讨论了解决矛盾的辩证思维、中西方理论对话和学生培养制度建设等问题。

关键词: 区域国别学, 地理学, 学科归属, 尺度陷阱, “例外论”, 田野调查

Abstract:

After being established as a first-level interdisciplinary discipline, country and area studies have garnered rising attention and heated discussions among scholars from foreign languages and literature, political science, world history, economics, and anthropology. However, geographers have relatively less involvement in these discussions. This paper argues that geographers should actively engage in the discourse surrounding the development of country and area studies and strengthen the dialogue between geography and this emerging field. Based on a systematic review of current discussions on the construction of country and area studies as a discipline, the paper redefines its nature and research scope from the perspective of geography and its disciplinary evolution. It posits that country and area studies represent a combination of interdisciplinary intelligence gathering and strategic analysis for specific regions or countries, oriented toward specific interests or threats. The research objects of this field can be delineated along three dimensions: regional delineation, factor (or domain) analysis, and application-driven demands. The paper further reflects on four major contradictions in the construction of country and area studies as a discipline: The tension between breaking disciplinary boundaries through an interdisciplinary perspective and the need to define clear boundaries as an independent discipline, the challenges in selecting the scope and scale of regions, the contradiction between producing background-specific knowledge emphasizing regional particularity and conducting universal theoretical research that transcends exceptionalism, and the conflict between emphasizing fieldwork and overcoming the cost and scalar traps of such investigations. Drawing on geography's integrative and scalar approach, the paper offers suggestions to address these contradictions. It further explores solutions through dialectical thinking, dialogue between Western and Chinese theories, and reforms in student training systems.

Key words: country and area studies, geography, disciplinary affiliation, scalar trap, exceptionalism, fieldwork