6 Considering Interdisciplinarity and Diversity
- The SSRC competition aims to promote “work that is relevant to a par-
ticular discipline while resonating across other fields”; the Society of Fellows
is committed to “innovative interdisciplinary approaches”; and the Women’s
Studies fellowship competition encourages “original and significant research
about women across disciplinary, regional, and cultural boundaries.” The
ACLS’s website simply states that “interdisciplinary proposals [for the fellow-
ship competition] are welcome”; the anonymous social science foundation
makes no mention of interdisciplinarity. - Walzer (1983).
- Boltanski and Thévenot (2006); also Lamont and Thévenot (2000).
- Dubet (2006).
- The first reported mention of the term “interdisciplinarity” occurred
in 1929. See Balsiger (2004). - This definition is proposed in Fuller (1988), which builds on Bechtel
(1986). - See Brainard (2002). For data on the multiplication of publications on
interdisciplinarity, see Jacobs (forthcoming-a). - On the absence of widely agreed-on criteria to ensure quality control
in interdisciplinary research (as opposed to disciplinary research), see Klein
(2003; 2005); Mansilla and Gardner (2004); and Weingart (2000). - Porter and Rossini (1985, 33).
- See in particular the special issue ofResearch Evaluation(Spring 2006)
edited by Grit Laudel and Gloria Origgi. See also the workshop “Quality As-
sessment in Interdisciplinary Research and Education” (2006), organized by
Veronica Boix Mansilla, Irwin Feller, and Howard Gardner, at the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., February 8,
- Boix Mansilla (2006).
- Dialogic work carries on a continual dialogue with other works of liter-
ature and other authors; see Bakhtin (1981). - Klein (1996). In contrast, an alternative approach argues that three
distinctive logics guide interdisciplinary research: accountability, innovation,
and ontology. See Barry, Born, and Weszkalnys (2008); also Rhoten (2003). - This point is also made by Langfeldt (2006).
Notes to Pages 203–208 / 283