The Future Is Interdisciplinary

Abstract

The future of theatre history is interdisciplinary. The inevitable question is, of course, What does one mean by interdisciplinary? There is indeed a whole field of interdisciplinary, or integrative, studies, with its own academic departments, conferences and journals. (Which in turn raises the troublesome question, Is interdisciplinarity still interdisciplinary, or is it now a discipline? But I won't go there—yet.) The common view is that interdisciplinarity employs more than one discipline to address a complex problem. Interdisciplinary studies tend to privilege unity, convergence, synthesis, complex questions, and broad issues.