This article focuses on the developments and shifts in the study of the Americas at the School of International Studies (SIS), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). It traces the growth of Area Studies at JNU since India’s independence, when the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted India to engage with the world while remaining autonomous. The Centre for the Study of the Americas at SIS has achieved this by creating a unique Indian academic tradition of studying the Americas through the lens of India’s national interest. It has provided generations of academics, policymakers and diplomats with an understanding of the region that has arguably been used to move from a position of distance during the Cold War to that of strategic partnership. The Centre, since its birth as a part of the Indian School of International Studies in the 1950s, has emerged as an institutional force in promoting sustainable academic relations between India and the Americas.
This article examines the historical and institutional evolution of African Studies in India, with particular emphasis on the Centre for African Studies at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. It outlines the transformation of the field from a small sub-division established in 1955 into an independent academic centre by 2009—a shift that parallels the deepening of India–Africa diplomatic and economic relations. The article highlights the contributions of key scholars and their foundational work, demonstrating a transition from descriptive Area Studies to more nuanced analyses engaging with globalization, diaspora studies and South–South cooperation. It also situates the discipline within the wider academic landscape of Indian universities and underscores the importance of outreach initiatives in bridging academia and policy. In doing so, the article reflects on how African Studies in India has increasingly adopted interdisciplinary and policy-relevant approaches, aligning itself with contemporary global realities. It further points to the growing need for strengthening research capacity and expanding thematic coverage within the field. Overall, the article presents African Studies as an essential framework for interpreting contemporary global dynamics and strengthening international partnerships.
Europe is central to the study of international relations as, for centuries, European history has shaped and influenced the development of the normative ideas that underpin the discipline. It is that geopolitical laboratory where the fundamental aspects of power, cooperation and identity of states were distilled over time; it has played a pivotal role in contributing to the core theories and concepts of the discipline, even as its historical experience has shaped relations among states over centuries. It is in this context that this article traces the remarkable evolution of the study of Europe at the School of International Studies of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, mapping the pivotal moments of this journey, reflecting both on the evolving political contours of Europe itself and the Centre’s own transition to interdisciplinary excellence.
The School of International Studies (SIS) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University was amongst the first institutions in India to teach the deep interlinkages between gender and International Relations (IR), developing the ideas of feminism in the discipline at a time when IR theory was embedded in a male-centric and patriarchal viewing of IR, security studies and international development. This article chronicles and highlights the role of the ‘foundational women’ academics of SIS. The article then goes on to discuss the gradual entrenchment of feminist visions—in particular, from India and the Global South—of studying, teaching and researching gender and IR in SIS.
West Asian (Middle Eastern) Studies in India began in the 1950s as part of the broader international relations and area studies at the Indian School of International Studies. It evolved at the School of International Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University after the 1960s, first at the Centre for West Asian and African Studies and later at the Centre for West Asian Studies (CWAS). The discipline gradually expanded to other universities and institutions, such as Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Millia Islamia, University of Mysore and University of Kerala. Despite these developments, the study of the West Asia and North Africa region has long remained confined to New Delhi and Kerala; in the latter, it has been broadly grouped with Islamic Studies or International Studies. The expansion of the discipline has not been commensurate with the region’s significance to India’s foreign policy and relations. Overall, the discipline has faced pedagogical and structural challenges, including a lack of language proficiency, an excessive focus on semantics, an inability to attract younger talent and the non-recognition of its pioneers and stalwarts. CWAS—and West Asian Studies, more broadly—needs to find ways to overcome these challenges and capitalize on India’s growing relations with the Gulf and West Asia, contributing to an informed debate on the region in India and internationally, and making the study of the region attractive to the younger generation.
