1. Introduction.- 2. Reversing the Gaze on Expectations in Technology: Philosopher Ortega y Gasset in Innovation Studies.- 3. A Modernization Perspective on Dutch Universities in the 19th Century: Theoretical Sociology Challenging Historiography.- 4. Constitutional Reform in the Postwar Netherlands: Law in History.- 5. Rethinking Eastern Europe in European Studies: Creating Symmetry through Interdisciplinarity.- 6. Gift and Reciprocity in the Aftermath of the 2003 Heatwave: Using Social Theory to Understand Public Confusion in Response to Solidarity Day in France.- 7. Freeing the Frog in the Well: Borrowing from History to Understand Contemporary Japanese Development Aid to Ethiopia.- 8. Examining Personal and Cultural Narratives of Aging: Literary Gerontology Revisited.- 9. Museology and Its Others: Analyzing Exhibition Storytelling through Narratology, Space analysis, Discourse analysis, and Ethnographic Research.- 10. Spatial Rituals andRitualized Space in Dutch Postwar Homes for the Elderly: Anthropology in History.- 11. The Mysterious User of Research Data: Knitting Together Science and Technology Studies with Information and Computer Science.- 12. Interdisciplinary Anticipations: Art-Science Collaboration at the Maastricht Brain Stimulation and Cognition Laboratory.- 13. Doing Collaborative Research on Symphonic Orchestra Audiences: Interventionist Ethnography of Music Practices.- 14. Alignment and Alienation: Emergency Staff and Midwifery Scholars as Co-Researchers.- 15. ‘Doing’ Teamwork as ‘Doing’ Family: Researching Transnational Migrant Families through Interdisciplinary Collaboration.

This open access book illustrates how interdisciplinary research develops over the lifetime of a scholar: not in a single project, but as an attitude that trickles down, or spirals up, into research. This book presents how interdisciplinary work has inspired shifts in how the contributors read, value concepts, critically combine methods, cope with knowledge hierarchies, write in style, and collaborate. Drawing on extensive examples from the humanities and social sciences, the editors and chapter authors show how they started, tried to open up, dealt with inconsistencies, had to adapt, and ultimately learned and grew as researchers. The book offers valuable insights into the conditions and complexities present for interdisciplinary research to be successful in an academic setting. Karin Bijsterveld is Full Professor of Science, Technology and Modern Culture at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. Her work focuses on themes at the intersection of science and technology studies and sound studies. She has taught extensively on how to do interdisciplinary research. ​Aagje Swinnen is Professor in Aging Studies at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. She has published on representations of aging in literature, photography, and film; meanings of literary approaches in dementia care; and ways in which professional artists understand and give meaning to creativity in the later stages of their career.

“This is an exciting collection of reflections on the academic life. I like the biographical approach. It concretizes the case studies, and is reflexive in orientation. The research comes alive when it is narrated in this way. The chapters address major disciplinary issues but from a personal standpoint, which makes this book learned and intimate at once. The opening chapter by Bijsterveld and Swinnen functions especially well as an introduction to the “works and lives” approach to scholarship that this book advocates.” (David Howes, Professor of Anthropology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, author of The Sensory Studies Manifesto)

This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access Shows how interdisciplinary work has driven change in how contributors read, value concepts, critically combine methods Shows how interdisciplinarity changed how contributors cope with knowledge hierarchies, write in style & collaborate Offers valuable insights into the conditions and complexities present for interdisciplinary research to be successful

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