Institutionalising a transdisciplinary curriculum: assemblages, territories, and refrains

Abstract

AbstractTransdisciplinary curricula and programmes in higher education have gained traction as universities respond to the supercomplexity of contemporary crises and an accelerated pace of change. However, institutionalising such a model within traditional disciplinary structures also poses a series of challenges. This study references the Common Core at The University of Hong Kong as an exemplar for the implementation of a sustainable transdisciplinary curriculum in higher education. Our analysis draws on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concepts of assemblages, territorialisation, and refrains in order to clarify the flexible, dynamic, and successful institutionalisation of a transdisciplinary curriculum. Key findings illustrate how the transdisciplinary assemblage is extended through relations regulated by discursive practices, connections with heterogenous participation from university stakeholders, modulating the flow of desires through funding and the inflections of disciplinary knowledge, and appropriating the rhythms and cycles of the broader institution. This framework for analysing institutionalisation endorses an adaptable model that draws in faculty, student, and administrative participation in a (non)human infrastructural platform for creative transdisciplinary education. These insights, in turn, provide a reference point for policymakers and university administrators interested in institutional and curricular transformation that is open to unpredictable future possibilities.