Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries

Abstract

▪ Modern modes of inquiry into the human condition have been characterized by a disciplinary modewe make sense of the world through particular, specialized and bounded disciplines. But if the rigid boundaries between disciplines have characterized the triumphant moment of the modern world, the recent moment has shown us a different picture where the rigid boundaries between disciplines are slowly breaking down and where we find more fluidity and permeability. This article provides a glimpse of this permeability. It describes a few creative experimenters of our times who, in their works, embody a transdisciplinary conversation and create new kinds of knowledge; knowledge which stands at the alchemical meeting point of several disciplines. Building upon these experiments, this article argues that transcending disciplinary boundaries is not possible unless we understand the limitations of the discourse and institutions of modernity. Since the rigidification of boundaries of knowledge in the contemporary world owes a lot to the logic of modernity, transcending these boundaries on the way to creating knowledge and a new mode of relationship must necessarily involve critiques of modernity and discover ways out of it. This article strives to illustrate this by pointing to the limitation of the very phrase 'interdisciplinary research' to capture the simultaneous process of transcendence and immanence that is involved in this alternative process of knowledge. Academic disciplines do not create their fields of significance, they only legitimize particular organizations of meaning. They filter and rank -and in that sense, they truly discipline -contested arguments and themes that often reach them. In doing so, they continuously expand, restrict, or modify in diverse ways their arsenals of tropes, the types of statements they deem acceptable. But the poetics and politics of the 'slots' within which disciplines operate do not dictate the enunciative relevance of these slots. (Trouillot, 1991: 17-18) The question of where the 'general' went in 'general education' and how one might contrive to get it back so as to avoid raising up a race of highly trained 379-

A university without departments and colleges -A new structure to strengthen disciplinary and interdisciplinary education and research

“…Supporters of IDRE contend that academic institutions hinder scientific advances and limit the contributions of science and technology to society by maintaining traditional single department approaches and organizations associated with disciplinary specializations (NAS, 2004). Any academic's paradigm is strongly influenced by the home discipline (Giri, 1998;Kumar Giri, 2002). The approaches to promoting interdisciplinary programs have varied.…”

Public administration teaching and interdisciplinarity

“…Benson (1982: 45) also cautions against the relatively high cost of the typical integrative study course. Interdisciplinary curriculums rely heavily on team-teaching methods and in this regard Giri (1998: 390) refers to the need for a strong ‘community of conversers’. Interdisciplinary curricula typically require the need to borrow teachers from the various disciplinary departments, thereby creating a need for part-time replacements.…”

Interdisciplinariedad Hacia Una Ecología Compleja De Las Ideas

“…Como lo vio Kothari, la verdadera ID requiere individuos ID, estén o no en un grupo. Giri (1998Giri ( , 2002 diagnostica el cambio requerido como de un nido de identidad como profesional del tipo T, a una autoconcepción como peregrino o buscador. Deberíamos esperar aquí solo una modesta rata de progreso.…”

“…Deberíamos esperar aquí solo una modesta rata de progreso. El mismo Johnson identificó como factores que predisponen a un abierto trabajo inter-(pero en sus términos multi-) disciplinario efectivo: el ser ‗suficientemente libre del chauvinismo disciplinar' y ‗filosóficamente flexible' (Giri 1998). Estos factores no son ni auto-nutrientes ni no-nutribles.…”