Transdisciplinarity: Resistance and opportunity for transformation

Springing from a recent university round-table on research methods, this reflective essay explores the potential benefits of transdisciplinarity to students and to the broader academic community. It discusses the various reasons for resistance to the notion of interdisciplinarity held by many who are engaged and invested in traditional approaches to their disciplines. This essay examines several approaches to and definitions of the concept of transdisciplinarity. Blending the frameworks of Basarab Nicolescu, Roderick L. Lawrence, and Richard Johnson distills the essence of transdisciplinarity: the transformative nature of the exchange of knowledge, methods, and understanding between the disciplines. Through several brief case studies, this essay explores opportunities presented by a transdisciplinary approach for reinvigorating and potentially transforming the disciplines, and for engaging students and communities in transdisciplinary study. This is a time of opportunity to help create new approaches to learning and knowledge – within, between, and beyond traditional approaches to the disciplines

Keywords:

Interdisciplinarity, Transdisciplinarity, Liberal Studies, BorderWork Engagement,

PDF

___

Anderson, L. W. & Krathwohl, D.R., et al (2001) A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.
Darbellay, F. (2015). Rethinking Inter- and Transdisciplinarity: Undisciplined Knowledge and the Emergence of New Thought Style. Futures 65, 163-174.
Horlick-Jones, T. & Sime, J. (2004). Living on the Border: Knowledge, Risk and Transdisciplinarity. Futures 36, 441-456.
Institute for Humanities Research. (2015) “About the Humanities.” Arizona State University. https://ihr.asu.edu/about/humanities
Johnson, R. (2001). Historical Returns: Transdisciplinarity, Cultural Studies and History. European Journal of Cultural Studies 4 (3), 261-288.
Lawrence, R. J. (2010). Deciphering Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Contributions. Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & Science (1), 125-130.
McGregor, S. T. (2014). Introduction to Special Issue on Transdisciplinarity. World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution 70 (3/4), 161-163.
McGregor, S. T., & Volckmann, R. (2010). Transdisciplinarity in Higher Education: The Path of Arizona State University. Integral Leadership Review, 10 (3), 1-17.
Messing, J. T., Adelman, M., Durfee, A. (2012). Gender Violence and Transdisciplinarity. Violence against Women 18 (6), 641-652.
Nicolescu, B. (2014). Methodology of Transdisciplinarity. World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution 70 (3/4), 186-199.