Challenging the concept of discipline in art, design and media

Objectives: This is a conceptual paper in which we look at the ways in which disciplines have been constructed and the difficulties facing those who seek to deconstruct them. Although some of the most important advances in the natural and the social sciences have been made at the intercies of traditional disciplines (bio-medicine or bio-chemistry for example) universities continue to be structured by and large according to those traditional disciplines. Lip service is paid to interdisciplinary research but the socio-political and economic life of the university still revolves around disciplines that were established during the last few centuries. Art, design and media are relatively new disciplines within academe and there is a danger that they, like older disciplines, may resist moves towards interdisciplinary teaching and research. We argue that this would be counterproductive and to support our argument we define what we mean by discipline, provide a brief review of the history of academic disciplines and analyse the factors underpinning their construction. A specific case is used to illustrate the viability of interdisciplinarity in art, design and media. Research methods: This is a conceptual paper that uses literature review as its main data gathering method and rational discourse as its main analytical tool. Results, and conclusions: The paper concludes that an historical analysis of disciplinarity indicates that disciplines are created by specific people, in a particular time frame and in a particular context. Once established the discipline can develop an impetus of its own. As the discipline grows stronger ‘the field’, to use Bourdieu’s term structures the ‘habitus’ of those who work within it. In a separate research paper we look, for instance at the way that Physics students do not only learn the content of the subject but also how to think and act like a physicist, thereby strengthening what Becher would call a tribal allegiance to Physics. In emerging disciplines like the arts, design and media individuals will also be conditioned by their field but they also have more chance of affecting it, even changing it so that it is open to, rather than threatened by other disciplines. Becher makes the point that academic disciplines often demonstrate tribal behaviour in their relationship with each other. We argue that in closely related disciplines like art, design and media there is the potential for such disciplines to become enemies or allies. On the one hand they can work for a clear demarcation of territory or, on the other, to accept difference, seek to understand it and use it in an interdisciplinary strength