Page 57 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

40 J. Godemann

of us efforts going as a rule beyond the latter” (Mittelstraß 2002: 2). Sustainability
communication can be seen as part of the larger field of sustainability science, which
itself can be understood as a change of perspective within the scientific landscape.
It is focused on the human-environment relationship; the structure of research prac-
tice can be characterised as an integrated approach to cooperative problem-solving.
Questions of sustainable development comprise a number of sub-problems that are
typically addressed by different disciplines. An important task of sustainability
communication is to make the knowledge – together with a sensitivity towards these
problems – that is created in these often inter- and transdisciplinary research pro-
cesses available to the public for discussion. The communication processes involved
cross boundaries by overcoming both disciplinary and scientific boundaries. Indeed
for inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability research it can be said that “without
(…) successful communication, the research simply does not happen” (Nilles 1975: 12)
and for cross-border sustainability communication it is equally true that without
adequate communication sustainability will not gain entry into society.
Communication in inter- and transdisciplinary teams in sustainability research is
discussed below. First of all, the two central terms – interdisciplinarity and transdis-
ciplinarity – will be explained.

The Terms Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

The term ‘interdisciplinarity’ has a long history and it is broadly discussed as a
concept, a methodology, a process, a way of knowing or even a philosophy (OECD
1972, 1998; Thompson Klein 1990, 1996, 2010; Weingart and Stehr 2000; Lattuca
2001, 2002; Mittelstraß 2002; Aram 2004; Derry et al. 2005; Aboelela et al. 2007;
Thompson Klein et al. 2010). All interdisciplinary activities – whether in research
or in teaching – have in common the fact that they are rooted in the idea of con-
structing a comprehensive understanding and synthesis of knowledge.
Interdisciplinary includes the attempt to integrate various insights into some sort of
coherent overall concept, theme or metaphor. “Interdisciplinarity, rather, has to
begin at home, in one’s own mind. It is connected with an ability to think ‘laterally’,
to question what others have not questioned, to learn what is not known within one’s
own discipline” (Mittelstraß 2001: 397). Interdisciplinarity as a form of cross-border,
coordinated collaboration between different scientific disciplines means, first, that
interdisciplinarity is pursued in a coordinated fashion and needs someone who in
addition to his or her specialized work takes on the tasks of coordinating work.
Second, interdisciplinarity as a form of collaboration subordinates the various per-
spectives to one research interest and the various methods to one research goal. This
involves integrating different perspectives and skills from the disciplines involved at
different phases of the process. Third, there are different versions of interdisciplinarity.