Volume 2 Issue 2 (2006)
Main Articles

Exploring Interdisciplinarity: The Significance of Metaphoric and Metonymic Exchange

Anne Dalke
Bryn Mawr College
Bio
Paul Grobstein
Formerly: Bryn Mawr College
Bio
Elizabeth McCormack
Bryn Mawr College
Bio
Published October 6, 2006
Keywords
  • disciplinary training,
  • emergent systems,
  • generativity,
  • interdisciplinary conversation,
  • metaphor,
  • metonym
  • ...More
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Abstract

Drawing upon five years of experience with an interdisciplinary initiative, colleagues in biology, literary studies, and physics offer a framework by which to understand the nature and value of interdisciplinary work. Effective interdisciplinary exchange depends on a dynamic and mutual interplay that challenges normally unexamined disciplinary assumptions. Effective interdisciplinary exchange can not only reinvigorate the disciplines but also engage them more effectively in a common intellectual enterprise, one that in turn is able to engage more effectively with a wide range of human concerns beyond the academy.