Immediately after its appearance, we at the University of Amsterdam's Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies enthusiastically adopted Allen Repko's "Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory" (Repko, 2008) as it was the first textbook that offered systematic explanation of and guidance through the complexities of an…

Interdisciplinarity involves the integration of insights from different disciplines, which is made possible by a number of variables that are unique to each example of integration. The challenge for an instructor introducing undergraduates to interdisciplinarity is to help them learn what is transferable and relevant beyond a singular example of…

Complexity is among the main drivers that justify and guide the genesis and establishment of multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to the production and application of knowledge. Complexity can be read in the relatively canonical taxonomy of these concepts that structure epistemological reflections on the dynamics of knowledge production…

How do we navigate fear of catastrophic change while also fostering a sense of well-being in our everyday? This question provides the lived context for the story this article tells about teaching a course on imagining well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking an integrative interdisciplinary approach that employs methods of literary analysis…

Ten Australians and one New Zealander provide reflections on the influence of Julie Thompson Klein's work on and in inter- and trans- disciplinarity. Even taking into account that this article is based on a small number of contributions from only one corner of the world, the reflections demonstrate the influence of a diverse array of Klein's…

Little research has been done on philosophical implications of the middle voice of early Greek and certain non-Western indigenous languages. In particular, the potential of such a medial ontology has yet to be even explored, much less realized, within the context of interdisciplinary studies. As a linguistic structure indicating an ambiguous…

This article will describe how I have integrated my work as a psychotherapist specializing in trauma and as a literature professor in an interdisciplinary course on Trauma Narrative in which I explore with my students how literary texts (novels, poetry, and plays) and clinical discourses (e.g. the "Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental…

With recent increased interest in and efforts to reform and revitalize general education curricula to make an educational experience more vital and germane, many institutions have become interested in incorporating interdisciplinary learning opportunities, or even in creating fully interdisciplinary programs. In order to address the growing need…

This article focuses on an article by William H. Newell (2001): "A Theory of Interdisciplinary Studies" ("Issues in Integrative Studies," 19, pp. 1-25). It explores the spatial and temporal dimensions in the architecture of urban form, applying the essential inquiry process that begins in sensory experience. This process of…

While the scholarship of interdisciplinarity has grown prolifically in the last thirty years, the discourse primarily frames interdisciplinarity as an instrumental research construct. In this article, I will argue that this framework should be expanded to consider how interdisciplinary engagement can support education for democracy. The article…

This article suggests that the arts and humanities are in the midst of an interdisciplinary turn. This turn is a reaction to two problems: the transformation of universities in the twenty-first century and the challenges posed by postmodernism. The interdisciplinary turn, as identified here, is toward critical thinking in teaching and learning and…

This article argues that cross-disciplinary linkages -- that is, relationships among phenomena studied by those in different disciplines -- often serve to destabilize, at least temporarily, systems of stability that are theorized to operate within the sets of phenomena studied within most disciplines. It surveys across disciplines both systems of…

Common ground in the interdisciplinary research process is the pivot from disciplinary to interdisciplinary perspective. As thinking moves from disciplinary to interdisciplinary, what is the shape or structure of attention, how does intellectual content transform in the attending process? Four common ground techniques--extension, redefinition,…

The scholarship of interdisciplinarity provides a potentially powerful response to anti-intellectual and anti-democratic impulses. It recognizes that proof and disproof are generally impossible, and that scientists can be biased in their evaluation of the evidence. Yet it proposes a set of strategies for transcending scholarly disputes in order to…

This article reports on the efforts of a political science professor teaching a multidisciplinary course focused on New York City to develop an interdisciplinary class project designed to lead students to an appreciation of the immigrant experience in the United States "From Ellis Island to JFK" (Foner, 2000). The particular…