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In the humanities and social sciences, 'area studies' are interdisciplinary fields of research and scholarship pertaining to a particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural region. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many heterogeneous fields of research. Fields are defined differently from university to university, and from department to department, but common area-studies fields include:

★ African studies

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★ African American studies

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★ Egyptian studies

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★ Egyptology

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★ Nigerian studies

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★ South African studies

★ American studies (in the United States this has traditionally referred primarily to North America and especially the U.S.)

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★ American Studies in Britain

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★ American studies in Germany

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★ American studies in Israel

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★ American studies in Japan

★ Asian studies

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★ East Asian studies

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★ Sinology

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★ Japanology

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★ Korean studies

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★ South Asian studies

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★ Southeast Asian studies

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★ Burma studies

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★ Indonesian studies

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★ Thai studies

★ Australian studies

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★ Aboriginal studies

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★ New Zealand studies

★ Canadian studies

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★ Quebec studies

★ European studies

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★ Celtic studies

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★ English studies

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★ French studies

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★ German studies

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★ Italian studies

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★ Russian studies

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★ Scandinavian studies

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★ Slavic studies

★ Indian studies

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★ Indology

★ Latin American studies

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★ Brazilian studies

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★ Caribbean studies

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★ Chicano studies

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★ Cuban studies

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★ Mesoamerican studies

★ Middle Eastern studies (or Near Eastern studies, "Orientalism")

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★ Assyriology

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★ Arab studies

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★ Iranian studies

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★ Islamic studies

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★ Israel studies (also Palestinology or Land of Israel studies)

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★ Judaic studies
Other interdisciplinary research fields such as women's studies (also known as gender studies), and ethnic studies (including African American studies, Asian American studies, Latino/a studies, and Native American studies) are not part of 'area studies' but are sometimes included in discussion along with it.
Some entire institutions of higher education (tertiary education) are devoted solely to area studies such as School of Oriental and African Studies, part of the University of London, or the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan.
Contrast the term cultural studies.