DEFINING “INTERDISCIPLINARY”:
BASIC DEFINITION:
The MLA Program is interdisciplinary. An informal way of understanding this is to approach a topic with the perspective that one field of knowledge may shed light on another.
This means that interdisciplinary classes are designed from two disciplinary perspectives (i.e philosophy and art, or literature and psychology) that allow students to read and analyze topics and issues so that they:
Develop conceptual links using a perspective in one discipline to modify or inform a perspective in another discipline.
Recognize a new level of organization with its own processes in order to solve unsolved problems within existing disciplines or problems that lie beyond the scope of any one discipline.
Use research techniques developed in one discipline to elaborate a theoretical model in another.
Modify and extend a theoretical framework from one disciplinary domain and apply in to another.
Develop a new theoretical framework that may re-conceptualize research in separate domains as it attempts to integrate them.
FORMAL DEFINITION:
In the field of Interdisciplinary Studies, the formal definition is articulated in Julie
Thompson Klein’s book Interdisciplinarity: History, Theory, and Practice (Wayne State University Press, 1990):
Interdisciplinary Studies strive to:
Address and explore broad issues and/or complex questions spanning more than one disciplinary field. (Bechtel 1986: 46-7; Klein 1990: 11).
Multidisciplinary study involves employing two or more disciplines, in juxtaposition. But “these separate disciplines never intersect upon a well-defined matrix” (Cluck 1980: 68). Instead the process of research and learning is additive (Klein 1990: 56).
By contrast, interdisciplinary work is integrative and consultative. Though, of course, “there is some overlap between interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary study … for the most part they are different areas” (Kline 1995: 2).
Interdisciplinary work is more firmly rooted in “conjunctive interaction” (Cluck 1980: 68; Klein 2000: 56). The approach is a synthetic one (with the prefix “inter-” implying among/between) (Kline 1995: 2), often revolving around a central focus (conceptual, theoretical, and/or methodological).
Arguably such synthetic interaction became easier in the late twentieth century, as disciplinary boundaries became increasingly blurred (Klein, 2000: 7). Hence, understanding interdisciplinarity demands an understanding of its relationship to disciplinarity.
IN PRACTICE:
The approaches utilized by interdisciplinarity can lead to innovative course design, renewed and spirited teaching for instructors, and illuminating & invigorating learning experiences for students.
In short, Interdisciplinary studies are the original platform for getting teachers and students to “think our of the box!”
OTHER MLA PROGRAMS:
There are many other MLA Programs across the country. Several of these are:
Johns Hopkins University MLA Program
Stanford University MLA Program
Columbia University Liberal Studies Master of Arts Programs
Washington University, St. Louis, Master of Liberal Arts
University of North Carolina, Asheville
University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX
If you are interested in continuing interdisciplinary studies beyond the Masters level, one program to look at is Ohio University’s InterArts doctoral program at www.ohio.edu/interarts/
SOURCES:
If you want to do additional reading on “interdisciplinarity” here is a selected Bibliography:
Bechtel, W. (1986). Integrating scientific disciplines. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff.
Berger, G. (1970). “Introduction”. OECD-CERI Interdisciplinarity – Problems of Teaching and Research in Universities. Nice: CERI/French Ministry of Education, September.
Cluck, N. A. (1980). “Reflections in the Interdisciplinary Apporach to the Humanities”, Liberal Education, 66.1: 67-77.
Klein, J. T. (1990). Interdisciplinarity: History, Theory and Practice. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.
Klein, J. T. (2000). "A Conceptual Vocabulary of Interdisciplinary Science”, in Weingart and Stehr, 3-24.
Kline, S. J. (1995). Conceptual Foundations for Multidisciplinary Thinking. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995.
Maasen, S. (2000). “Inducing Interdisciplinarity”, in Weingart and Stehr, 173-193.
