Liberating interdisciplinarity from myth. An exploration of the discursive construction of identities in information studies
本文通过话语分析揭示信息学科被视为“弱势学科”是一种迷思，源于对统一学科的理想化，并指出打破这一循环才能正确理解跨学科实践。
Recent research in information studies suggests that the tradition of seeing the discipline as weak is still alive and kicking. This is a problem because the discourse of the weak discipline creates conceptual confusion in relation to interdisciplinarity. Considering the growth of the iSchools and what is assumed to be a major institutional redrawing of boundaries, there is a pressing need to conceptualize interdisciplinary practices and boundary work. This paper explores the “weak” discipline through a discourse analytical lens and identifies a myth. Perceiving the discipline as weak is part of a myth, fueled by the ideal of a unitary discipline; the ideal discipline has strong boundaries, and as long as the discourse continues to focus on a need for boundaries, the only available discourse is one that articulates the discipline as weak. Thus, the myth is a vicious circle that can be broken if weakness is no longer ascribed to the discipline by tradition. The paper offers an explanation of the workings of the myth so that its particular way of interpreting the world does not mislead us when theorizing interdisciplinarity. This is a conceptual paper, and the examples serve as an empirical backdrop to the conceptual argument.