Often the role of disciplines is simplified, and their importance in upholding the autonomy and status of academic knowledge production is ignored. Yet, if we want to understand the role of disciplines within academia we need to go beyond treating disciplines as schematic variables and understand the various ways in which different forms and degrees of disciplinarity impact knowledge production. Hence, contrary to many previous contributions on the topic we do not aim for a normative stance – for or against academic disciplines – but we are motivated by a genuine interest in understanding what disciplines are, how they function, and how they can be studied.

The project is conducted in collaboration with Professor Julian Hamann, Humboldt University, Berlin