Interdisciplinary Studies

Introduction
Newell and Green, the prominent advocates of interdiciplinary studies, provided a broader
definition of the term; the inquiries which critically draw upon two or more disciplines and which
lead to an integration of interdiciplinary insights(Newell and Green, 1982).Many scholars argue
that in the post colonial world interdisciplinary approach has been founded as the most effective
method to comprehend inquiries that necessitates cross cultural examination.
Interdisciplinary studies are opportunities for instilling and nurturing in students higher order
thinking skills such as integration, creativity and evaluation. Those institutes in India having Centre
for Excellence status recognised this opportunity earlier itself. Thus, these institutes pioneered
introducing interdisciplinary studies in our country. The efforts of these institutions slowly
materialised into schools, departments and centres where interdiciplinary studies and research got
exclusive and privileged treatment. IITs synthesized social science disciplines under the umbrella of
Humanities and Social Sciences and systematically introduced areas of inquiry that demands
interdisciplinary approach such as cultural studies, climate change, women studies etc. The students
of these institutions being catalysed institutionally to grasp ideas from various disciplines which are
useful for the study that they undertake, could come up with many original productions. Frution of
such a radical educational experiment led these institutions to harvest the scope of the experiment
beyond research programmes and introduced post graduate programs of interdisciplinary nature (for
instance, M A in Society and Culture course recently initiated by IITGn). An analysis of research
areas indulged in by some of the prominent educational institutions in India can give a glimpse of
the intensity with which these institutions promote interdiciplinary studies.
The Development studies programme offered by IIT Madras being an interdisciplinary area of
research admits students from various social science streams. Previously this program was meant
exclusively for Economic post-graduates. Such an integration of social sciences disciplines,
however, could prove that applying sociological, cultural and even anthropological insights are
inevitable in effectively analysing problems that were conceptualised so far in purely economic
terms. The flux that the emergence of such interdisciplinary areas of research could create in the
realm of academia is creative and synthetic to the core. The coursework sysllabus of these
programmes did more than merely reflecting the integrative aspects of the research area under
examination. The course work modules were formulated in such a way that fundamental concepts
from various disciplines the knowledge of which could enable more integrative thinking in
Development Studies were made integral part of it. This was further advanced by offering seminars
and conferences of interdisciplinary nature.

The fervour of interdisciplinary studies trickled down into Indian Universities, many of which until
then considered interdiciplinarity as a radical educational experiment corrupting and destroying the
individual existence of discipllines.