Explaining Challenges That Beset Transdisciplinary Projects in the Global South: The Shift from Methodological Perspectives to a Political-Economic Dynamic Analysis

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that rigorous attempts to grasp the challenges unique to transdisciplinary projects in the Global South (TPGSs) require an understanding of the target state’s political-economic dynamics, which can undermine TPGSs. In this regard, I harness social-conflict theory to examine how and why Cambodia’s political-economic dynamics affected my own transdisciplinary project, which addressed dam-induced problems in the northeast of the country from 2018 to 2021. The present paper’s findings clarify the relationships among various nonacademic TPGS stakeholders—a topic that has attracted little attention from transdisciplinarians but that can significantly shape TPGS outcomes.