Practice-Based Interdisciplinary Approach and Environmental Research

Abstract

Interdisciplinary researchers and educators, as community members, creators of knowledge, and environmental activists and practitioners, have a responsibility to build a bridge between community practice, academic scholarship, and professional contributions aimed at establishing environmental sustainability. In this paper, I focus on an undervalued area of environmental politics, practices, and often unarticulated assumptions which underlie human-environmental relations. This article challenges interdisciplinary studies that are not connected with practice by reconfiguring the meaning of a community-based, interdisciplinary approach. Drawing from works by Foucault, Latour, and Haraway, this paper first shows how to reconfigure the meaning of an interdisciplinary approach. Second, using Bourdieu and Brightman's ethnographic studies as a framework, the paper situates practice as central to our efforts to deconstruct and replace current interdisciplinary initiatives with a practice-based approach. Through a practice-based interdisciplinary approach (PIA), environmental educators and researchers gain an awareness of and learn to make an investment in sustainable communities. As teams of environmental researchers practising in the local community, they are meaningfully involved with the community, with each other, and with the environment.

Learning to Navigate (in) the Anthropocene

“…In sum, the blurring of distinctions brought about by the Anthropocene reconfigures many things we know and are familiar with: our sense of place (no longer one singular global world, but rather a plurality of worlds), our sense of time (no longer something that naturally improves and/or progresses, but rather something indeterminant and precarious), and even our sense of who we are as a collective (no longer humans who can/should steward the planet, but rather an entangled collective of active human and non-human actors) [23]. Unsurprisingly then, in this new constellation modern conceptions of HESD are finding themselves on shaky grounds [54,55]. How can we provide new generations of students the tools in order to build a particular type of future if we do not (and cannot) know which direction this future will take?…”

Decolonizing both researcher and research and its effectiveness in Indigenous research

“…For me, interdisciplinary research involves meaningful involvement and ethical relationships with participants. I argued elsewhere the first priorities of interdisciplinary research in saying, ‘Special attention is given to the community’s practice: how do community people deal with environmental matters, and in what way do they interact, communicate, understand, evaluate, and manage the connections between their everyday needs and practices?’ (Datta, 2017: 2). The decolonial forms of interdisciplinary research objectives were inspiring when choosing my PhD program in environmental sustainability.…”

“…Disconnection from practice. Disconnection between research and practice in research training can be a significant challenge as a researcher (Datta, 2017). For instance, during undergraduate and graduate programs the sociological methodological training was a significant challenge in my research training.…”

“…Although the importance of interdisciplinary research training has been widely recognized, it is still very much concentrated within specific disciplinary areas, and the integration of interdisciplinary studies has become unusual in traditional fields of study (Haraway, 2004;Latour, 2004). I also found that despite some success in educating the different disciplines to work collaboratively, the degree of interdisciplinary research training at present is insufficient and sporadic (Datta, 2016(Datta, , 2017Latour, 2004). In fact, I found the concept of interdisciplinarity confusing.…”

“…The research becomes a form of empowerment because of decolonization. Processes of decolonization helped me to challenge interdisciplinary research that was not connected with practice by reconfiguring the meaning of a community-based, interdisciplinary approach (Datta, 2017). For me, interdisciplinary research involves meaningful involvement and ethical relationships with participants.…”