INTERDISCIPLINA Y TRANSDISCIPLINA: REFLEXIONES Y EXPERIENCIAS EN EL INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES ANTROPOLÓGICAS DE LA UNAM

Abstract

The scientific work organized in teams or through the conjunction of various dis-
ciplines is currently a highly valued scheme, especially when the emphasis is placed on its

relevance to promote interdisciplinary research. Equally present is the search that collective
work leads to transdisciplinarity. However, there may be considerable distance between the
theory, the implementation and the final products. Due to this, the author shares his 30

years of experience in research and academic life within the Institute of Anthropological Re-
search of the National University Autonomous of Mexico, where archaeological research

has promoted, for more than 30 years, the formation of laboratories and groups of work

whose objective was the study of archaeological materials by fields such as biology or che-
mistry. At this moment, interdiscipline is an integral part of various projects and laborato-
ries called “applied sciences”, whose objective is to apply biological and exact sciences

methods to solve anthropological problems, through work schemes developed over the
years in function of the needs and available resources. Regarding transdiscipline, it is still
considered a difficult proposal to apply, however there are some recent experiences that
show us how to put this proposal of knowledge creation into practice.