Discipline identity in economic history: Reflecting on an interdisciplinary community

Abstract

The article by Aileen Fyfe (this issue) raises a number of important issues about academic identity and the importance of the disciplinary community in the creation and maintenance of that identity. It also discusses some of the additional difficulties faced by interdisciplinary disciplines; lack of recognition (and thus institutional support), isolation of individual academics in ‘foreign’ communities and a general anxiety and lack of self-confidence by the practitioners in that discipline as to the worth of their field. Finally, the article hints at the dangers these difficulties pose for the sustainability of the discipline – as lack of a clear identity and an institutionally marginal existence can make developing and attracting future practitioners difficult. In Fyfe’s article, the focus was on the history of science. This article explores some of the many similarities, and differences, that exist for individuals in the field of economic history. For many economic historians, locating themselves within their discipline is still a major issue.