Paper short abstract:

The aim of the paper is to discuss transdisciplinary practices of W. Lloyd Warner (1898-1970). This American scholar contributed to development of several academic disciplines, including socio-cultural anthropology, management, and sociology.

Paper long abstract:

Based on archival material I argue that analysis of Warner's disciplinary transgressions can help us better understand methodological and theoretical challenges associated with anthropological transdisciplinarity. While I find Warner's Australian monograph an excellent example of ethnography, his Yankee City volumes are in turn relatively impersonal, in most cases failing to convey the local perspective in a way we would expect from an ethnographic monograph. The balance between scientific analysis and presentation of ethnographic material that we find in his Australian monograph, in the Yankee City series is skewed towards abstract theory building and usage of other than traditional ethnographic data. This shift in Warner's approach to methodology and academic writing could be attributed to the fact, that in his perception studying modern American society required an adaptation of traditional ethnographic research techniques to new circumstances and even borrowing methods from sociology and psychology.