11 THE ABSENCE OF A PARADIGM: THE CONSTRUCTION OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

Calls for interdisciplinarity in general, and interdisciplinary research in particular, serve as an alternative and a challenge to traditional, discipline-based forms of teaching, knowledge production, and academic organization (Birnbaum, 1983; Fuller, 1993; Klein, 1994; Petrie, 1986). Current literature addresses interdisciplinary research as a 'type' or 'style' of inquiry, emphasizing differences from traditional, single-discipline scholarship (Klein, 1990; Chubin, Porter, & Rossini, 1986). However, little has been written about the research practices of individuals (and collaborative groups) engaged in interdisciplinary inquiry. Nor has there been significant consideration of the logic of construction of interdisciplinary research. What do faculty mean when they conduct research that is interdisciplinary?; This study examines faculty constructions of interdisciplinarity for eight interdisciplinary research projects through multiple frames, including rhetorical and textual analyses of grant proposals (and the originating Call for Proposals), analyses of scholarly references and citations, and analyses of accounts from interviews with the researchers engaged in each project. The cases were drawn from an institutionally sponsored seed grant competition seeking to enhance and support interdisciplinary research activity. The projects in this study include collaborations among faculty involved in the physical and life sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities.; Analyses of the data suggest that, although faculty utilize several strategies and devices to establish and maintain their projects as interdisciplinary (including claims of novelty, opportunism, and deficit repair), these devices serve to reinforce disciplinary identity and authority. Faculty accounts and representations of interdisciplinary research differ significantly from much of the conceptual literature on interdisciplinary research: rather than oppositional, investigators portray interdisciplinary work as congruent and supportive of discipline-based activity. Faculty involved in these projects maintain commitment to their home disciplines. In contrast to the current literature, these case studies do not portray interdisciplinary research as critical of disciplinary structure.