DISCIPLINING INTERDISCIPLINARITY: The Case for Textbooks

Abstract: This essay makes the case for the disciplining of interdisciplinarity through the vehicle of textbooks. It draws upon (1) the 2003 Delphi survey of interdisciplinarians regarding opportunities and challenges to interdisciplinary education, (2) research in cognitive psychology and education about the nature of learning, and (3) the emerging conversations regarding definitions of interdisciplinary studies, theoretical underpinnings of the professional literature and practice, and the various step-based approaches to operationalizing the interdisciplinary research process. A history of the field of interdisciplinary studies will undoubtedly recognize the significance of the year 2005 as the inaugural year for textbook development in interdisciplinary studies with the publication of two college-level textbooks. Tanya Augsburg’s Becoming Interdisciplinary: An Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies is suited for introductory courses, and my text, The Interdisciplinary Process: A Student Guide to Research and Writing (a preliminary edition), is geared toward advanced undergraduate and graduate students.1 The publication of these textbooks marks a coming-of-age for this maturing field now some three decades old with its solid bod