05 May The cult of departmentalisation

I’ve groused, in the past, that departments should be more interactive and less cultishly territorial about disciplinary boundaries. But today, after interacting with someone from a sister discipline, I’m rethinking my Polly-Anna-esque view of the possibilities of the world. I suppose we’re different disciplines for a reason – if not always for subject matter, then at least for personality reasons.

I suppose it could be less the discipline, overall, and more the culture of particular departments. Students and faculty are drawn together for philosophical frames of approaching subject matter as much as for the actual subject matter itself. Not everyone is a good fit everywhere.

I suppose the Polly-Anna-death-moment should be less about the possibilities of cross-disciplinary exchange and pointed more simply at People Who Are Rude – no matter what department or discipline they are from.

Luckily, today was tempered by a delightful interaction with someone from a sister discipline in a different university. Thank goodness for visiting angels!