I totally agree with everything you said here, and you put it way better than I ever could.
It is, of course, hugely important to create opportunities for interdisciplinary work--to make sure that people in different departments and different schools, people who use different methodologies and study different time periods, have a chance to talk to each other. But I'd like to think that we don't have to abolish departments altogether in order to make that happen. Interdisciplinarity is just as often about comparing differing approaches to a topic as it is about developing new approaches, and if we think long-term, it seems to me like people have to learn what it means to look at an issue through a disciplinary lens befure they can fully grapple with both the opportunities and the limitations of that approach.
Also, I spent some time just now discussing the article with my coworkers, who are funnier than I am. One of them suggested that once scientists in the Water program figure out how to create clean drinking water for everyone, the religion scholars can turn it into wine! In which case I'd be all in favor of that research.
It is, of course, hugely important to create opportunities for interdisciplinary work--to make sure that people in different departments and different schools, people who use different methodologies and study different time periods, have a chance to talk to each other. But I'd like to think that we don't have to abolish departments altogether in order to make that happen. Interdisciplinarity is just as often about comparing differing approaches to a topic as it is about developing new approaches, and if we think long-term, it seems to me like people have to learn what it means to look at an issue through a disciplinary lens befure they can fully grapple with both the opportunities and the limitations of that approach.
Also, I spent some time just now discussing the article with my coworkers, who are funnier than I am. One of them suggested that once scientists in the Water program figure out how to create clean drinking water for everyone, the religion scholars can turn it into wine! In which case I'd be all in favor of that research.
And since I've been making fun of the water thing, here's a link to a really cool interdisciplinary water-related project: http://www.artsonearth.org/projects/water09.html
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