[Médias et transdisciplinarité- Michel Cazenave]
As all of you know, my current post as research fellow is dedicated to studying transdisciplinarity which will culminate in the creation of a new academic journal dedicated to transdisciplinary studies in creative technologies. I have been blogging about my journey so far and serendipitously Basarab Nicolescu (can we say "father" of transdisciplinarity...at least in it's contemporary sense?) read a blog post, commented, and since them we have maintained a dialogue. It is this online dialogue which has brought me from the virtual world into the physical (which is Paris) to join the EHESS's annual sessions of seminars in transdisciplinarity (co-organised with Alfredo Pena-Vega).Michel Cazenave's seminar gave me lots to think about; as I said lastnight when we went to coffee to dissect the talk: "je dois penser encore!" The talk was very philosophical but I suppose that is to be expected from someone who is ecrivain, poète and philosophe. Something that kept coming up was the idea that science (with a capital S) has specific demands and methods which means it operates on a different level of being than transdisciplinary enquiries (one might say this holds also for spiritual, moral, or more "humanities" driven questions).
After the talk there was some time for questions and one came from a woman at the back who asked something that has been posed to me: "give a concrete example of a transdisciplinary..." and in this case it was of a film. Cazenave had a good answer: how to give a concise example for something that is so complex and complicated?
NB: that catchy title of "studies in..." is thanks to Basarab Nicolesu who, while chatting about transdisciplinarity (but of course), noted that aptness of the word "studies."
NB: The top photo is Salle 1 in the EHESS before we began. At the front of the room on the left is Basarab, in the middle with the book is Michel and on the right by the green door is Alfredo.
Addition 23 Jan. 2009: I found this report on an interdisciplinary conference:
Labels: academic, art, ban, humanities, paris, philosophy, science, transdisciplinary
posted by Jess @ 09:13
5 comments
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jess @ jesslaccetti.co.uk
5 Comments:
good stuff jess. but you know we know that...
I'm not sure that Prof. Nicolescu is the strongest or most interesting thread to follow, but to each his or her own. I traced transdisciplinarity back to some debates in UNESCO in the late 60's and early 70's. Those debates seem far closer to what transdisciplinary research seems to be today, but opinion varies. I definitely wouldn't put Prof. Nicolescu in the running to be father of transdisciplinarity, I'd place his work more as a second generation outside of the mainstream, but perhaps i'm wrong.
Thank you Canadian university friends. :)
Thanks for your comment Jeremy. Yes, I should have clarified, I think Nicolescu must be one of the contemporary "fathers" of transdisciplinarity.
Although he did not come up with the word (it was Piaget and used in an educational context) he has been driving theoretical development of the field - but you're absolutely right; it is more "second generation." I wonder if the notion of mainstream is a cultural difference? What theorists/practitioners do you look to in the field of transdisciplinarity?
I've been trying to find out more about the OECD conference of 1972 that took place in Nice which is where the term appears...though, I believe the conference was actually included the term *interdisciplinarity* in the title.
Was there ever give a strong answer Jess, regarding the media and transdisciplinarity? How does politics and social enter into this dialogue?
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