Interdisciplining Digital Humanities ─ Boundary Work in an Emerging Field

Interdisciplining Digital Humanities sorts through definitions and patterns of practice over roughly sixty-five years of work, providing an overview for specialists and a general audience alike. It is the only book that tests the widespread claim that Digital Humanities is interdisciplinary. By examining the boundary work of constructing, expanding, and sustaining a new field, it depicts both the ways this new field is being situated within individual domains and dynamic cross-fertilizations that are fostering new relationships across academic boundaries. It also accounts for digital reinvigorations of “public humanities” in cultural heritage institutions of museums, archives, libraries, and community forums.

Julie Thompson Klein is Professor of Humanities in the English Department and Faculty Fellow for Interdisciplinary Development in the Division of Research, Wayne State University.

Gail Ryder, who created the cover art, is a graduate of the Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies at Wayne State University and an Associate Professor of Humanities at Siena Heights University, where she teaches liberal arts courses and composition—online. Bringing her classroom to the virtual world has given her the opportunity to merge a strong interest in the visual arts with her passion for curriculum development. Her newest creation is a course on the Harlem Renaissance. In her spare time, she works on collages, multi-media journals, and one-act plays about the locker room at the local YMCA.