Paper short abstract:

This paper argues that although anthropology is ‘interdisciplinary,’ emerging epistemological trends and recent developments in the institutionalization of scientific research call for a renewed collective reflection on the place and role of anthropological knowledge within academia and beyond.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will argue that although anthropology is - and has in many ways always been - 'interdisciplinary,' emerging epistemological trends and recent developments in the institutionalization of scientific research call for a renewed collective reflection on the place and role of anthropological knowledge within academia and beyond. I start with a number of reflections on my own training and research experience. These help me raise a number of questions regarding the disciplinary interfaces that have constituted anthropology as an academic discipline in the U.K. I then critically examine the works of a number of authors who argue that anthropological engagement with interdisciplinarity went onto a qualitatively different trajectory with the development of STS (Science and Technology Studies). I outline recent developments linked to the emergence of 'sustainability science' and of the 'science of complexity,' before concluding with a number of questions for future research.