When I began my Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Social Anthropology I never imagined that I would find myself one day doing a postgraduate degree alongside physical scientists in CSAG. At nineteen years old I had no idea how I would one day make a living using my burgeoning knowledge of modern poetry and kinship rituals (my parents generously allowed me to choose an undergraduate degree program based on my passions and interests). At twenty eight years old I am pleased to report that my interest in the workings of human society has lead to fruitful and rewarding interdisciplinary work in the dynamic and important field of climate change research.
At academic institutions like the University of Cape Town support is growing for cross disciplinary conversation and collaboration on key issues facing society. Physical and human scientists are increasingly working together to make sense of the complex entanglement of social and ecological factors involved in mitigating and adapting to climate change. CSAG, for example, places emphasis on up-skilling hybridized interdisciplinary academics to tackle climate change research.
Despite the evident rewards, some scholars shy away from interdisciplinary work because of its many challenges. One has to become familiar with new languages, for example. Over the last few years I have discovered that terms like ‘uncertainty’ and ‘skill’ have very important and complex definitions. I was mistaken when I thought I had deciphered my last graph when I dropped maths in Grade 11. Losing a disciplinary home can also be risky – in many parts of academia a pure disciplinary approach still dominates and feral theorists are considered with suspicion. Developing a new network of colleagues in a new department (or across multiple departments) takes time and effort.
There are worthwhile rewards for those who persist along a nuanced, interdisciplinary path, especially in climate change research. Reflecting on my own journey to date I can say that I have become much more willing to ask questions and critique my own assumptions. I also see the value in participating in forums where I am not totally comfortable or fluent in the lingua franca. As with pavement special dogs, I believe that interdisciplinary breeding will make us tougher and scrappier in the exciting climate change debates to come.
Jessica Omukuti
I agree with you that climate change is a very complex process and the best way to tackle it is through interdisciplinary research. I am impressed by the direction you’ve taken, considering that you started off as a B.A degree holder.
I’ve been doing some reading about communicating climate communication to the people in Africa and found out that the information produced by climatologists is still inadequately used. the intended users are not reached and even if this is achieved, the purpose is not. So after reading your blog, I thought that maybe inter-disciplinarity in climate change science would be the only solution to making sure that climate information is used as intended by the correct group of users.
Am thinking of it in a way that if we can encourage experts from the fields of say tourism, insurance, agriculture, manufacturing and all the other climate dependent sectors of the economy to learn more about climate change, then they will be in a better position to explain to the climatologists about what climate information is most vital, how they need it packaged and the language to use. this is because different fields of specialization have their own jargon, or we can say terms which they use and understand more. A climate change expert who has knowledge in a different field is in a better position to format this information so that his/her fellow specialists or professionals can understand it better.
Neil
I love your closing sentence! It makes me picture an age in which mongrel street gangs of interdisciplinary scientists take over the world.
Back to reality, I don’t think it can be overstated how important a solid command of both English (or which ever language is appropriate) and mathematics is to one’s ability to communicate science. With these basic skills in place, the next challenge is of course striking the right balance between informative prose and numbers, graphs and equations that is accessible the intended audience.