Boundary Work

The first chapter lays a foundation for the book by defining boundary discourse in crossdisciplinary and cross-sector work. It begins by distinguishing spatial and organic metaphors of boundaries, with initial emphasis on disciplines. It then combines the two metaphors in a composite concept of an ecology of spatializing practices, illustrated by the evolving nature of disciplines as well as trading zones and communities of practice. The chapter then describes structures for interdisciplinary work, followed by the concept of heterarchy, changing character of higher education, platforms for communication and collaboration, and role of the built environment. It turns next to boundary objects, illustrated by construction of a natural history museum, an academic reform initiative, a project on waste management, and the relationship of objects and their description in climate modeling, regulatory discourse, genetic toxicology, and human ecology. The chapter ends by examining boundary organizations and agents in two cross-sector case studies.

Beyond Interdisciplinarity

Beyond Interdisciplinarity examines the broadening meaning, heterogeneity, and boundary work of interdisciplinarity. It includes both crossdisciplinary work (encompassing multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary forms) as well as cross-sector work (spanning disciplines, fields, professions, government and industry, and communities in the North and South). Part I defines boundary work, discourses of interdisciplinarity, and the nature of interdisciplinary fields and interdisciplines. Part II examines dynamics of working across boundaries, including communicating, collaborating, and learning in research projects and programs, with a closing chapter on failing and succeeding along with gateways to literature and other resources. The conceptual framework is based on an ecology of spatializing practices in transaction spaces, including trading zones and communities of practice. Boundary objects, boundary agents, and boundary organizations play a vital role in brokering differences for platforming change in contexts ranging from small projects to new fields to international initiatives. Translation, interlanguage, and a communication boundary space are vital to achieving intersubjectivity and collective identity, fostering not only pragmatics of negotiation and integration but also reflexivity, transactivity, and co-production of knowledge with stakeholders beyond the academy. Rhetorics of holism and synthesis compete with instrumentalities of problem solving and innovation as well as transgressive critique. Yet typical warrants today include complexity, contextualization, collaboration, and socially robust knowledge. The book also emphasizes the roles of contextualization and historical change while accounting for the shifting relationship of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, the ascendancy of transdisciplinarity, and intersections with other constructs, including Mode 2 knowledge production, convergence, team science, and postdisciplinarity.

The Boutelou Brothers: From Gardening to Agronomic Practices, Education, and Travels in Spain at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century

At the turn of the nineteenth century, agriculture in Spain was seen as an empirical know-how that was transmitted from generation to generation through practice. However, at the royal gardens the idea that agriculture was a scientific branch of knowledge was already germinating. Focusing on the two brothers—Claudio (1774–1842) and Esteban (1776–1812) Boutelou—this paper argues that these gardeners, profiting from their positions at the Spanish royal gardens, promoted agronomic development and education. In spite of the importance of the Boutelou family, a five-generation dynasty of gardeners, historiography has paid scant attention to them, as well as to the importance of agronomic travels and their reports. This paper aims at interweaving the boundaries between the history of science, history of agriculture, and gardens and landscape studies. Through the lenses of history of science and the application of Long's conceptual framework of ‘trading zones’ and Baldassarri and Matei's ‘gardens as laboratories’, we focus on the position of the Boutelou brothers in the gardens of the royal estates and the new Sanlúcar acclimatization garden. We then demonstrate how they were influenced by travels abroad and how Arthur Young, a Briton, became their role model. Moreover, we establish a relation between the Boutelou's network of experts and the rise of translations of English and French books and the appearance of the first agricultural teaching manuals in Castilian, often published in the context of agricultural societies. Finally, we show how this was fundamental to the renewal of agronomic practices and education in Spain.

The Humboldt-University and Its Rivals Under the Market Science Condition

In the modern rankings of higher education institutions almost monopolistic American universities (Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, etc.) play the leading role promoting the idea of the “entrepreneurial university”. The classic European university fails in the competition, and the idea of the Humboldt University is losing credibility. Our assumption is that this situation is in the large part due to the historical identity of civilizational missions, elites and forms of communica­tion (“trading zones”) that initiated these types of universities. The comparative history of European and American universities demonstrates that in the first case philosophers played a leading role in achieving the goals of cultural policy, and in the second, there were managers who won in the economic competition. European and American universities were, in different proportions, culture-forming centers and factors of economic development. University reforms were usually initiated from outside: these are its competitors and sponsors, politi­cians, and entrepreneurs. Who exactly takes on the functions of the moderator in the trading zones is a key question for the university’s fate. If a business model-oriented manager builds cooperation, then the university becomes the embodiment of academic capitalism. If a cultural policy is implemented in the interdisciplinary interaction of scientists themselves, then there is a chance to measure the university's development with humanistic values and the ethos of science.

Insights into teachers’ views on sharing ways of knowing and ways of teaching between and beyond existing disciplines

Since academic teachers belong to different disciplines and thus discourses, they have different ways of knowing and teaching. Recent societal challenges call for thinking beyond boundaries and re-visiting academic practices. The purpose of this study is to investigate how academic teachers view sharing of knowledge and teaching. The study is based on survey data from eight faculties and interviews of teachers from each of these faculties at the University of Gothenburg. The results show that professional development courses in higher education teaching and learning, as well as open practices, and collaboration between academic disciplines and society are practices, which Galison (1997) termed trading zones. These trading zones are sources of learning to theorize and to facilitate exchange among peers with the potential to develop knowledge, identity and moral commitments necessary to address societal challenges. Further, the results suggest that universities need to scaffold these sharing practices. The findings inform how academic teachers’ practices can be transformed into sharing between and beyond academic disciplines.