Julie Sera Spray

Anthropologists frequently contribute to interdisciplinary teams, but how does anthropological knowledge get heard? This project investigates the social and structural processes that produce interdisciplinary knowledge. Interdisciplinary collaborations are increasingly encouraged by institutions and funding bodies. Yet disciplines and their knowledge practices are subject to hegemonic power structures that shape how diverse epistemologies are perceived, understood and valued. Working in interdisciplinary teams or departments can be challenging for anthropologists, whose knowledges are often marginalised by dominant knowledge systems, especially in science- or medicine-based enquiries. Likewise, anthropology attracts critique from outside the discipline and at times misrecognises other knowledges. This project therefore takes anthropology as a case study to understand how disciplinary knowledge is recognised, activated or silenced in interdisciplinary spaces. Using an epistemic recognition framework, we plan an international study involving two core components: a) a global investigation of scholars’ experiences with epistemic recognition in interdisciplinary spaces, and b) building and resourcing a global community of anthropologists working across disciplinary borders. Findings from this project will advance theories of knowledge coproduction with critical social perspectives and, practically, inform how anthropologists can better navigate interdisciplinary spaces and train graduates to speak and listen to other disciplines. This project is lead by Dr. Julie Spray (University of Galway), with Dr. Laura McLauchlan (Macquarie University) and Dr. Sreeparna Chattopadhyay (Manipal University) as co-investigators.