IR Archives - Orders Beyond Borders

April 1, 2019April 1, 2019 by Matthew Stephen

The “scholarly mainstream” in German IR

Given its object of study, one would think that the field of International Relations would be a particularly cosmopolitan and ecumenical discipline. In many ways it is. But in some respects it resembles a collection of warring tribes. This has probably declined somewhat since the Big Debates of the 1990s—the Neo-Neo Debate, epistemology wars between neo-positivists and ‘critical’ theorists—which still provide many of the key readings for students of IR theory. But these Big Debates didn’t really end in a definitive victory for one side. They mostly gave way to a Cold Peace amongst relatively insular scholarly communities. Well they maybe did – it’s hard to know for sure.

One of the interesting phenomena about how IR scholars talk about their field and their tribe is that they often refer to it as ‘mainstream’. Often, this is done by those who feel they are outside of the mainstream. (Interestingly, there does not appear to be an accepted metaphor to refer to those who are not part of the mainstream – backwaters? Counter-currents?) But what does this mainstream consist of?

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Interview: Celine Jacquemin on African Studies in IR

In this episode of our interview series, our host Lynda Iroulo talks to Celine Jacquemin, Professor of Political Sciences and International Relations at St. Mary´s University, San Antonio, Texas.

Listen in, as Jacquemin gives insight in her understanding of African Studies, explains how one should (not) talk about African countries, and explores the future of the field.

Find a short transcription of the interview below or listen to the full one here:

Iroulo: Let’s start with the basics. What is African Studies?

Jacquemin: African Studies can be a lot of different things, depending on where it is housed in different universities. In some places it may be more in the humanities, in others a little more in the social sciences. A lot of universities actually have components of African Studies inside of their international and global studies programs. For example, for us at St. Mary’s University we have some of the components inside of our peace and security tracks in political science.

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