Interdisciplinary Studies

One of the barriers I find when it comes to studying is that I am interested in a wide variety of disciplines. Here in England and Wales, formal education starts specialising quite early at 14 years old. Post-16 education allows people to specialise in different ways, e.g. 4 or 5 ‘Academic’ Subjects at AS level usually reduced to 3 subjects at A2 level. A variety of other qualifications allow you to specialise in a specific, usually practical field. Universities require students to apply for a specific course and unlike North American and Scottish Universities it is possible to go to University to study Mathematics and only take Mathematics classes. Some Universities may not even have options for students to take electives or to combine subjects, although this is changing. Formal learning tends to be put into boxes, where different subjects don’t interact.

This week I have attended two events at Bristol University both of which have demonstrated the way that things don’t fit into these neat boxes, whilst at first these two events may not seem particularly related, they both shed light on different ways of Interdisciplinary Studies and show the increasing importance and use of Interdisciplinary studies.

I attended a lecture from the Autumn Art Series ‘Indigo – from mummies to blue jeans’ by Dr. Jenny Balfour-Paul (16/11/10), due to my interest in Textiles. Her lecture on the dye Indigo was fascinating and moved far beyond solely the discipline of Art, unfortunately due to time constraints she was limited to summarising many different areas, many of which could have been lectures in their own right. It was clear listening to the lecture that the story of Indigo is a way to explore many different subjects and also afforded Dr. Jenny Balfour-Paul with many interesting travel experiences.

For example here are some different subjects explored through Indigo (other than Art).

Science: Unlike other colours only one natural source for the colour blue which is Indigo and that this can come from more than one plant, but once isolated it is the same substance and that the colour can’t be seen in the plant, it has to be soaked and mushed and mixed with oxygen. Once Indigo is extracted and made into block it has to be fermented again (until it becomes at Greeny-yellow liquid) to dye fabric and the fabric only becomes blue once exposed to Oxygen. Indigo is considered to be medicinal and is a preservative and it repels insects and animals as it is bitter. Use of natural dyes over synthetic dyes is better for the environment.

History: She showed us paintings of people wearing denim items in medieval times, and the paintings also used Indigo dye. Blue ‘Jeans’ throughout the ages. She mention Indigo slave plantations, with the potential that Blues music could have come from slaves working on Indigo Plantations in the West Indies. Blue beards in history would have been dyed with Indigo.

Anthropology: She spent time in different countries making ethnographic studies of the different way dyers in different countries use Indigo. She talked about the concept of the Indigo gods, which has been found in different countries as the indigo dye needs feeding with certain substances to work and it was often understood as feeding a god and that the dye is alive in some way.

Aesthetics [of Indigo]: In India and Arab countries they like their Indigo cloths to be shiny and bright (made by rubbing with a stone and painting more Indigo pigment on top) In Japanese and Western cultures prefer faded Indigos – e.g. faded denims. Creating designs is done with a resist, e.g. wax, stitch or paste.

At the end of the lecture Dr. Jenny Balfour-Paul told us about a project she is working on called the ‘Silk Road Connect’ which brings interdisciplinary learning into deprived middle-schools in the New York City Public School system. The project is run by Yo-Yo Ma and the website for this project explains how they are using the study of Indigo as part of their programme, “indigo presents endless possibilities for learning across various disciplines: hands-on dyeing of fabric, growing an indigo plant, examining the history of the indigo trade and its effect on many cultures, studying the dye’s unique chemical properties, and discovering the hidden story of our own ubiquitous blue jeans.” They aim to use indigo as a way to connect different disciplines across the arts and sciences and develop passion-driven learning.¹ This seems somewhat similar to the Unit Studies way of learning within home education and the integrated learning units in progressive education. I also believe it is the way that we naturally learn, following our interests. A simple example is my younger brother’s knowledge of countries and their cities developed from from his interest in football (soccer).

I also attended a discussion panel event to mark the launch of the Cabot Institute, entitled ‘How should we live with global environmental uncertainty?’ (15/11/10). I attended this not only of of general interest, but also to inform the reporting I am doing for Climate Squads COP16 reporters scheme.

The Cabot Institute has been specifically founded at Bristol University to bring together leading researchers across the multiple disciplines of science, engineering, social sciences and law to carry out research on different aspects of global and environmental change. The Panel at this event consisted of four men, Sir Crispin Tickell, Director of Policy Foresight Programme; the Hon Sir Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future; Brendon Gormley, Chief Executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee and Professor Ric Parker, Rolls-Royce Director of Research and Technology and things that were discussed included

• How do we affect behavioural change and is more technology needed?

• How to deal with Climate Change Denial.

• Whether we need a Global Environmental Leader and whether this person needs to be inside or outside of the current political system.

• The role of media in affecting, or not affecting change, with the majority of the audience and the panel believing the mainstream media to be unhelpful.

• The role the Internet can play in affecting change, Sir Jonathon Poritt referring to 38degrees website, and Sir Crispin Tickett saying that the Internet allowed charities to access people more directly instead of relying upon mainstream media appeals and also allowed some people to by-pass charities and have direct interaction.

• The lack of scientists currently in the UK government and what effect this has.

• How we can respond quicker to disasters and climate issues in the future, exploring responses in urban areas and technology to provide predictions of events

• Public policy, particular the current role of higher education as for economic growth, modern economics, particularly the concept of continual economic growth as detrimental to a sustainable future and making sure research from the Cabot Institute is presented to politicians in a way to positively affect policy.

  
  

As you can see the debate moved across many different subjects, as both the causes and way to tackle climate change reach across many different sectors of society. Panellist Bredan Gormley made the point that we live in a fragmented world and any future global environmental leader would need to be able to talk across different fields to unblock change. In his closing summary Ric Parker wished the Cabot Institute well and that with research students working across different fields [in a interdisciplinary manner] hoped it will help develop new minds for modern world.

Multidisciplinary studies seem to be part of the point of creating the Cabot Institute, in the pre-event press release Professor Nick Lieven, Dean of Engineering at Bristol University, said: "The University has a strong sense of research excellence across a wide range of individual disciplines. What really excites me about the institute is the way that these strengths are genuinely being brought together to tackle some of the most pressing global questions of our times." In the Cabot Institute information booklet there is information about the new multidisciplinary educational opportunities for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, including an open module on Sustainable Development, open to all undergraduate students, new academic courses and Doctoral Training Centres where students can pursue a flexible programme which combines research and teaching.

Bredan Gormley said in his closing summary that it is important to develop links with institutions outside of the Anglo-Saxon world, for example Haiti and Islamabad, and Rick Parker closing summary referred to the general public having problems getting their mind around risks such as Climate Change. Sir Jonathon Poritt referred to two current world leaders, The Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, who come from a more spiritual perspective which should not be ignored in looking for future environmental leaders. I wonder if the concept of a Inter/Multidisciplinary Institute expands beyond working between different departments and also into working with people outside, for example knowledge in this field could be useful for spiritual/religious leaders, those looking to build sustainable communities, politicians, journalists (and others in the media), artists and those volunteering or working in many different organisations and charities, in turn they could provide valuable insight from their perspectives. I hope they continue to provide public events such as this debate to allow a truly interdisciplinary debate between many different people and also the programme provided earlier in the day (which I think was for charities). As an Independent learner I also would like to see opportunities for people to access information from the Cabot Institute, perhaps using OpenCourseWare to disseminate materials, particularly to those in developing countries or offering the Sustainable Development module as an course for those outside the University.

I believe the Internet can help with truly interdisciplinary international discussions and debates. The use of the Internet (as a tool for affecting change) was referred to in the debate, with reference to a campaign website and donations to charities. The Blog for the Centre for Public Engagement (#Cabot) at Bristol university has provided a summary of the debate and an opportunity for comments and questions, the have also promoted use of a Twitter Hashtag #cabot to aid discussion. However I wonder what they will do with the material generated from this and from the debate.

As an Independent Learner I think interdisciplinary studying is the future of great thinking in the 21st century, allowing study to focus on a problem to be solved or an interest to be explored. It can help create future leaders who can work across disciplines, understand how different things interact and are able to talk across fields. It can bridge between the sciences and the arts and also between the practical, the theoretical and the academic allowing new ideas, solutions and creations to develop. Whilst original academic studies focused on the classics and theology and then broadened to include other subjects considered to be academic, other (particularly practical and technical) subjects were to be learned through other means, e.g. self-learning entrepreneurs, apprenticeships, technical colleges creating a divide between different groups of learners. However Universities are changing, courses addressing specific modern issues bridges the divides between ‘academic’ subjects and ‘practical’ e.g. media studies, climate studies. Within secondary schools or home-education studying across the curriculum can incentivise students to understand why they should learn certain things. Independent Learners, who are learning for all sorts of reasons, not to gain a specific qualification, are to some extent already practising Interdisciplinary studies. We can listen to lectures in different fields (e.g. recording on Itunes U), without being constrained to a specific syllabus or field, interact with others through the internet and access a wide variety of materials from OpenCourseWare.

Interdisciplinary studying allows us to think outside the box and explore new ideas!