[Air-l] transdisciplinarity

[Michele White]

I strongly disagree with Barry's indication that research that is without
a disciplinary structure or "guidance" is inherently worse that other
research. There may be questions that need to be posed in opposition to or
without the safe and containing support of a discipline. It seems to me
that feminisms, postcolonial studies, queer theory, and disability studies
all suggested and continue to indicate that certain identities and
questions have been prevented by disciplinary methods, boundaries,
accepted areas of study, and beliefs. For instance, Linda Nochlin's "Why
Are There No Great Women Artists?" suggested that prior to the 1970s that
the education of artists and the field of art history rendered conditions
where women could not be elevated to the status of great artist. Feminist
critiques encourage us to look at what disciplines prevent, how they
guide, and wonder about the ongoing disciplining of Women's Studies and
Internet Studies.

All my best,
Michele