Google scholar kone a, sullivan m, senturia kd, chrisman nj, ciske sj, krieger jw. Many have observed that knowledge is central to the purposes of the academy and libraries. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Interdisciplinarity has had, for some time already, a high priority for science policy and research funding, and it is also a growth area in studies on knowledge production jacobs and frickel, 2009. Disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity the authors 2012 and. This chapter provides an exposition of the concept of interdisciplinarity. Towards an understanding of interdisciplinarity 153 features an additive approach towards the disciplines holley, 2009, p. Knowledge, disciplinarities, and interdisciplinarities, julie thompson klein suggested that the first use of the term interdisciplinary may have been by members of the social science research council ssrc in new york city in the mid1920s, where it originated as bureaucratic shorthand for research that involved two or more of the several. Therefore, although interdisciplinarity is a current hot topic and practice, it is something that has been at work, overtly or otherwise, in scholarly pursuits for centuries. Knowledge, disciplinarities, and interdisciplinarities, julie thompson klein suggested that the first use of the term interdisciplinary may have been by members of the social science research council ssrc in new york city in the mid1920s, where it originated. Problematizing disciplinarity, transdisciplinary problematics. From activism and political philosophy to cognitive science and forensics, each chapter explores the relationships between performance and another discipline.
Julie thompson klein 1990 wayne state university press. Disciplinarity definition of disciplinarity by the free. Our main object of analysis is not theories of knowledge, but the experiences that people have when they find themselves navigating around and across professional knowledge boundaries. It is usually called a tension or a dilemma but paradox is the most appropriate term, for there is an apparently contradictory situation which manifests itself in two concerns. Interdisciplinarity in the context of urban environments article pdf available in geoforum 392. Disciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in the study of. First, studying the awg reveals if the epistemic dichotomy is justified or if disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity are actually coconstituted as increas. Many of the problems that we face today, also as objects of research, appear to be highly complex and multifaceted, and will not respect disciplinary boundaries. Crossing boundaries curriculum exploring biodiversity using information technologies the series consists of four books that collectively engage middle and high school students in using information technologies to investigate realworld scientific and environmental questions in national and international contexts. Disciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary concepts. However, in order to be able to cross a boundary there need to be boundaries in the first place and one needs to know where these boundaries are. Knowledge, disciplinarities, and interdisciplinarities in the series on knowledge. We use the word interdisciplinarity to describe a far broader phenomenon, that extends across all sectors of society.
Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and the sciences. Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combining of two or more academic disciplines into one activity e. The two scholars differ greatly when it comes to operationalizing interdisciplinarity. Academic knowledge, orienting knowledge and action knowledge 6. Performing interdisciplinarity proposes new ways of engaging with performance as it crosses, collides with, integrates andor disturbs other disciplinary concerns. Interdisciplinarity as an opportunity for universities in the 1990s by wilhelm vosskamp university of cologne translated by roslyn abt schindler wayne state university abstract. It is important as modern society increasingly demands applicationoriented knowledge, and the usability of scientific knowledge generally requires the combination and integration of knowledge form various scientific disciplines. Improving collaboration between researchers and communities. Pdf crossing disciplinary boundaries in environmental research. Characterizing the disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity of the awg can contribute to two central concerns of this literature.
A reason for examining interdisciplines is that they are a prime example of how research is actually practiced when there are issues beyond the scope of one discipline and multiple fields intersect. Disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity in this issue of the jsse references social science education as a subject field in schools is an intrinsic pluridisciplinary feature, whatever disciplines are included, however it may be organised and wherever it may be institutionalised. Nov 29, 2016 this work proposes an entropybased disciplinarity indicator ebdi which allows the classification of scientific journals in four classes. Disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity in citation and. Complexity and interdisciplinarity are linked in a wide. Disciplines are constructs borne out of historical processes. Is largely dependent on disciplines for source material. The common ground of open access and interdisciplinarity. Pull from disciplinary methods, but creates new methods. The first of these terms derives from the period between the world wars stills, 1986.
Performing interdisciplinarity proposes new ways of engaging with performance as it crosses, collides with, integrates and or disturbs other disciplinary concerns. Knowledge, disciplinarities, and interdisciplinarities knowledge, disciplinarity and beyond charlottesville, va and london. Teaching interdisciplinarity university of washington. Knowledge, disciplinarities, and interdisciplinarities. Crossing boundaries demands to be read, as the most comprehensive and rigourous critiqe of the ways disciplinary boundaries stillinhibit knowledge production and integration. University, higher education, academic discipline, transdisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, research organization, knowledge production. Rosenfield 1992 has looked at research collaborations, while klein, 1990, klein, 1996, klein, 2008 prefers to focus on the epistemic dimension involved in boundary crossing and so emphasises knowledge integration see also. Assuming that the set references in the papers published in a journal represent a significant part of their knowledge. In this paper, we explore both the rationales for crossing disciplinary boundaries and the difficulties involved, noting that the two are sometimes related. The first driver of interdisciplinary studies is the complexity of nature, society, and. Many of the problems that we face today, also as objects of research, appear to be highly complex and multifaceted. This international panel aims to discuss the theoretical boundaries of information science in relation to disciplinarity and to the identity of information science with a special reference to the premises, promises and implications of diverging historical and contemporary traditions in different european countries and.
Disciplinary boundaries between the social sciences and. This book is the most comprehensive and rigourous critique of the ways disciplinary boundaries still inhibit knowledge production and integration. Interdisciplinary engagement across the slovene research community. Transdisciplinarity and disciplinarity in the university of the future sam garrettjones centre for research policy, university of wollongong, nsw, 2522, australia keywords.
Interdisciplines and interdisciplinarity 129 issues in integrative studies no. Julie thompson klein is a professor and scholar in the field of interdisciplinary studies at wayne state university. Knowledge, disciplinarities, and interdisciplinarities knowledge. Combined, these drivers make a powerful case for interdisciplinary studies. A central reason for the goodness and significance of interdisciplinarity is that it is believed to push the frontiers of knowledge forward and create knowledge that helps to solve the problems of the world e. The main change in the nexus of disciplines, since the 1960s, has involved an intensification of interest in, and a proliferation of proposals for, interdisciplinarity and multidisciplinarity, of various kinds. Disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity have become keywords for knowledge and education in the. Teaching interdisciplinarity 469 has migrated away from an approach best described as multidisciplinary comparing and contrasting two or more disciplines and toward a version of critical interdisciplinarity integrating multiple disciplines through a critique of disciplinary knowledge formations. Multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, and the sciences article pdf available in international studies in the philosophy of science 254. Interestingly, many disciplines have their own vocabulary for talking about inquiry that crosses disciplinary boundaries. I explore the strengths and weaknesses of some of the leading thinking on the concept over the past 30 years. Boundary work studies examine how boundaries of knowledge are formed, maintained, broken down and reconfigured. A platform for a shared discourse of interdisciplinary education1.
Mobilising%20swedish%20social%20science%20research. Knowledge, disciplinarities, and interdisciplinarities 1996. In his book interdisciplinary research, allen repko uses the parable of the six blind men and the elephant to di erentiate between disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity 11. All of these factors have led to a disciplinary paradox in the discourse. Claim a new perspective on realworld problems not bound by disciplinarity. Establishes contexts of interdisciplinarity then presents case studies of six fields urban, environmental, border, area, womens, and cultural studies, chapters.
Crossing disciplinary and cultural boundaries to improve quantitative skills advances in science have greater reliance on mathematical and statistical thinking and reasoning quantitative skills, or qs than ever before. Crossing disciplinary boundaries in environmental research. Some universities have reacted to this demand for interdisciplinarity and the result has been an increase in new crossdisciplinary subjects where for instance students of international business, accounting, negotiation, etc. A common way of drawing distinctions in the national reports is to stress three levels of interdisciplinarity. Vosskamp emphasizes, first and foremost, that interdisciplinarity is both dependent upon and indebted to disciplinarity and, further, that successful dialogue and cooperation among the.
Pdf disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and childhood studies. It is about creating something by thinking across boundaries. Disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity interdisciplinarity is an important and a complex issue. Multi disciplinarity draws on knowledge from different disciplines but stays within their boundaries. The following books may be of interest to those wishing to become familiar with this field of inquiry.
Disciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary. Interdisciplinarity is widely regarded as a virtue but working across disciplines is hard evans and marvin, 2004, p. It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics etc. There is a widespread belief that interdisciplinary research is a good thing and something to strive for. First, we underline the importance of research evaluation by universities, funding agencies, reftype exercises and publishers as central to academic careers and critical to idr. This text investigates the claims, activities and institutional structures that define and legitimate interdisciplinary practices. Disciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in the study of knowledge. Interdisciplinarity analyzes, synthesizes and harmonizes links between disciplines into a coordinated and coherent whole choi, 2006.
Disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity positively reinforce each other. Towards an understanding of interdisciplinarity 153. Vosskamp emphasizes, first and foremost, that interdisciplinarity is both dependent upon and indebted to disciplinarity and, further, that successful dialogue and cooperation among the disciplines require both independence within and competence of individual disciplines. This essay discusses interdisciplinarity as a theoretical, historical, and political scholarly issue. It is about creating something new by thinking across boundaries. Crossing boundaries for environmental science and management. Klein is widely known as a pioneer in interdisciplinary education, and has consulted widely in academic and other settings in the field. Research at the social sciencephysical science interface andy sumner1 and michael tribe2 1institute of development studies, university of sussex, uk 2bradford centre for international development, university of bradford, uk and department of econimics, university of strathclyde, uk. Disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and childhood studies. The anthropocene working group and its interdisciplinarity. Transdisciplinarity and disciplinarity in the university of. Disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity the authors 2012. Interdisciplinarity as an opportunity for universities in the 1990s by wilhelm vosskamp.