TD Session 1: where is transdisciplinarity?

In preparation of the session, please familiarize yourself with the following academic texts:

Bernstein (2015) Transdisciplinarity: A Review of Its Origins,
Development, and Current Issues.


Klein (2013) The Transdisciplinary Moment(um).

Not all of you might be used to reading these type of texts - which are both academic literature reviews. A literature review is a specific form in which the author(s) synthesizes a large amount of academic texts on a specific topic - in this case "transdisciplinarity" - in order to create a coherent overview of a particular concept, theory or field. This is often done through a conceptual lens, as in the case of the review by Klein, who uses the idea of "clusters" instead of a singular definition to show how the term transdisciplinarity has been defined across a variety of academic fields. Bernstein adopts a more chronological approach, as he show how, where and when the notion of transdisciplinarity came into being and was used.

You do not have to read these texts in extreme detail, but instead try and find what you think is the main point, as well as reflect on what is particular about this way of writing.

While acquainting yourself with the texts, please write down questions that arise during the reading and reflection process. These can be about the content of the articles, the academic form, the process of reading these type of texts, how it connects to your own research, and so on. We will work with these questions during the sessions, and consider where we can find transdisciplinarity, whether it can be displaced, and if so, what happens to the concept.