Interdisciplinarity and Public Engagement

Abstract

The New Languages for Criticism project is committed to 'comparative thinking within a wider interdisciplinary perspective' and to 'elaborating links and conceptual interfaces between different forms of cultural expression'. Alongside this commitment the project involves people whose research 'reaches beyond the academic domain in an effort to stimulate critical thinking in the wider public arena'. The In(ter)discipline conference itself reiterated this dual commitment, aiming to 'stimulate discussion about the kinds of critical languages used within the scholarly as the public sphere, and the linguistic challenge that represents an increasingly interdisciplinary research culture within the modern Humanities'. Concepts and procedures from different disciplines have to be explained in non-specialist terms to facilitate work between specialist areas in the first place, so interdisciplinary research might constitute an automatic first step towards public engagement. The potential contribution of English studies and related forms of criticism to ongoing debates regarding the scope and limits of public engagement and the diversity of ends that 'engagement'.