Why we still need to know about places and cases in the era of big data

Join the Centre and FAMES for a guest speaker seminar with Dr Rusra Sil on 'Why we still need to know about places and cases in the era of big data: The role of (comparative) area studies in the production of usable knowledge'.

About the speaker:

Rudra (Rudy) Sil is Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also SAS Director of the dual-degree Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business. He received his Ph.D. from Berkeley before joining the Penn faculty in 1996. His scholarly interests encompass Russian/post-communist studies, Asian studies, comparative labor politics, international development, qualitative methodology, and the philosophy of social science. Sil has previously authored, coauthored, or coedited eight books. These include two monographs – Managing ‘Modernity’: Work, Community, and Authority in Late-Industrializing Japan and Russia (2002) and Beyond Paradigms: Analytic Eclecticism in the Study of World Politics (2010), coauthored with Peter Katzenstein and honored as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title – as well as six co-edited books, including The Politics of Labor in a Global Age (2001), World Order After Leninism (2006) and, most recently, Advancing Comparative Area Studies: Analytical Heterogeneity and Organizational Challenges (2025). He is also the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the Ira H. Abrams Memorial Prize for Distinguished Teaching in the School of Arts and Sciences.