Interdisciplinarity and social power

This paper takes up the problem of how to structure a productive and genuin e interdisciplinary engagement from the standpoint of geography. It examine s first what makes interdisciplinarity difficult, focusing on the productio n of disciplinary cultures that define the material practices, social relat ions and epistemological commitments characteristic of a field of study. Th e paper then considers why interdisciplinarity seems to be in the ascendant and why and how geography has been used in this project. It cautions again st a reductionist or imperialist style of interdisciplinary work and encour ages geographers to develop their own approach to a productive engagement w ith other fields, in part through attending to the interdisciplinarity inhe rent in our own.