Disciplining the Interdisciplinary: Radicalism and the academic curriculum

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Abstract
Having first reviewed the lack of a sociology of the academic curriculum, this paper looks back at a period when radical critiques of conventional knowledge were being developed in the context of 'revolutionary' politics, both outside and inside the academy. Interdisciplinarity was central to some attacks on the established curriculum, and the praxis of interdisciplinary work marked the emergence of 'new' subjects such as Cultural Studies and Women's Studies. Interviews with women academics, responsible for introducing interdisciplinary women's studies degrees in the UK and North America, show how the disciplinary boundaries were re-drawn rather than demolished. This paper argues that the power of the established disciplines to incorporate new knowledge, without ceding territory to those who were intent on a wholesale reform of the system, is an illustration of how academic knowledge and academic institutions maintain their essential conservatism, preserving the status quo by limited concessions to innovation.

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