Across the Borderlands:
Scholars’ Experiences of Epistemic Recognition and Misrecognition in Interdisciplinary Spaces

Investigators: Julie Spray (University of Galway), Laura McLauchlan (Macquarie University), And sreeparna Chattopadhyay (Munipal university)

Funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation

Have you experienced working in interdisciplinary teams, departments, or projects?

We are three anthropologists: Julie Spray from the University of Galway in Ireland, Laura McLauchlan from Macquarie University in Australia, and Sreeparna Chattopadhyay from Munipal University in India. We’re seeking participants for our study of scholars’ experiences of interdisciplinary spaces.

Interdisciplinary collaborations are increasingly encouraged by institutions and funding bodies. However, interdisciplinary teamwork also comes with unique challenges that can influence the way knowledge is produced and translated.

We are interested in understanding how people’s disciplinary knowledge can be heard and understood, or conversely, misrecognised or silenced in interdisciplinary spaces (e.g. departments, committees, teams, projects). What happens to disciplinary knowledge—how is it activated, translated, or marginalised—through various social, structural and epistemic processes?

We think some main factors influencing whose knowledge gets heard might include:

Social E.g. Relationships, social hierarchies, scholarly and personal identities, positionalities, communication patterns, interpersonal dynamics, emotional and psycho-social processes

Structural E.g. Academic conventions, systemic bias, economic constraints

Epistemic E.g. the nature of knowledge and knowing, knowledge hierarchies and how knowledge is valued, psychological or cognitive aspects of knowledge acquisition, epistemic injustice, epistemic trauma

We see these processes as variably enabling or preventing epistemic recognition: a deep understanding, valuing, and meaningful integration of disciplinary knowledge. This is important because understanding the processes of interdisciplinary knowledge production can inform how we train future scholars for interdisciplinary teamwork. As an outcome of this project we hope to produce an “Interdisciplinarian’s Guidebook” to help scholars understand and navigate the challenges and hierarchies of cultural encounters across disciplinary borders.

We would like to interview scholars representing diverse disciplines and countries about your experiences and observations of working in interdisciplinary spaces.

We seek PhD-holding scholars from any country or discipline who have experience working in interdisciplinary spaces to participate in one Zoom interview of about 1-2 hours at a time convenient for you. In the interview, we will ask you to tell us about your discipline and your experiences and perceptions of interdisciplinarity, and what is particularly challenging about interdisciplinary work for scholars of your discipline. We would like to hear your stories and experiences of joys and pains in your interdisciplinary encounters so we can hear what hinders and helps different kinds of knowers and knowledges to be heard and find influence.

As interdisciplinary scholars ourselves, we know that this work can be difficult but also involves valuable professional relationships that need to be protected. We take a critical feminist and relational approach to this research, holding a deep ethical commitment to protecting participant confidentiality and caring for the professional interests and relationships of our participants. We will not disclose your participation or use your real name or any identifying details in any published work. You will have an opportunity to review your interview transcript and add instructions about how you would like any of your experiences to be de-identified.

If you are interested in participating or would like more information, we would love to hear from you! Please fill out the form below to register your interest, or contact julie.spray@universityofgalway.ie