There is a lot to be said for research that builds on lessons from many academic disciplines and between scientists and practitioners. But in such research one always has to negotiate power relations. Whose vision dominates, who compromises? Who gets more of the funding? Which framework is used?
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Interdisciplinarity, Research | Tagged: Interdisciplinarity, power dynamics, transdisciplinary research | 
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Posted by christiankull
Every once in a while, it is worth reflecting on concepts that have become so central to discourse that they are repeated ad nauseum but without any novelty. So it goes with ‘interdisciplinarity’, a pet term of any university or research administrator. It is widely desired or required, without much thinking about what it means. For there can be multiple interdisciplinarities, or competing interdisciplinary approaches (as I show for political ecology and resilience, see below). Interdisciplinarity can be a practice, a goal, a tool, or an outcome; it can be individual or team-based; it can be ‘deep’ or ‘shallow’; it can be a spirit of enquiry or a formal requirement.
These were some of the inspirations I gained from attending, this first week of October, an intimate conference on Interdisciplinarités entre natures et sociétés, in Cerisy-la-Salle, France. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by christiankull
Christian Kull 