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Article published In:
Transdisciplinarity in Applied Linguistics
Edited by Daniel Perrin and Claire Kramsch
[AILA Review 31] 2018
► pp. 29–52

Transdisciplinarity across two-tiers

The case of applied linguistics and literary studies in U.S. foreign language departments

| University of Arizona

In the ten years since the Modern Language Association published their report, “Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World” (2007) dissatisfaction with the “two-tiered configuration” of US foreign language departments has become increasingly vocal. While the target of the criticism is often the curriculum, it has often been noted that programmatic bifurcations mirror institutional hierarchies, e.g. status differences between specialists in literary and cultural studies and experts in applied linguistics and language pedagogy (e.g. Maxim et al., 2013; Allen & Maxim, 2012). This chapter looks at the two-tiered structure of collegiate modern language departments from the perspectives of the transdisciplinary shape-shifters who maneuver within them – scholars working between applied linguistics and literary studies. These individuals must negotiate the methodologies and the institutional positions available to them – in many instances, the latter is what has prompted them to work between fields in the first place. The particular context of US foreign language and literature departments serves as a case study of the lived experiences of doing transdisciplinary work in contexts that are characterized by disciplinary hierarchies and the chapter ends with a call for applied linguistics to consider not only the epistemic, but also the institutional and affective labor needed to sustain transdisciplinary work.

Keywords: applied linguistics, literary studies, transdisciplinarity, institutional power
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Transdisciplinarity as a discourse within U.S. foreign language, literature, and culture departments
  • 3.Stories from across two tiers
    • a.My story
    • b.The interviews
      • 3.2.1Transdisciplinary motivations
      • 3.2.2Institutional politics of belonging
      • 3.2.3Transdisciplinarity on the career track
  • 4.Conclusion: Lessons from applied linguistics/literary studies go-beyonds
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 12 March 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aila.00012.war
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