التجزّؤ المعرفي وإعادة إنتاج الهيمنة الأكاديمية: العوائق الرمزية والمؤسسية أمام البحث البيني في الجامعة التونسية

Abstract

Some Arab universities, particularly Tunisian universities, face a complex challenge due to the limited presence of interdisciplinary research, which results from the interaction of epistemic and institutional factors. Academic structures tend to reproduce narrow specialization through symbolic mechanisms linked to cultural perceptions of knowledge legitimacy, as well as material mechanisms related to rigid administrative frameworks, funding systems, and criteria for recruitment and promotion. This reinforces the dominance of established disciplines and deepens the divide between the humanities and the natural sciences, limiting universities’ capacity to address complex problems and reducing the potential for interdisciplinary integration. The prevailing academic culture also reflects patterns of symbolic and material exclusion, through which university elites maintain their authority, transforming disciplines into “knowledge fiefdoms” that compete for resources rather than collaborate. This dynamic creates distorted incentives that marginalize scholars open to interdisciplinary approaches. The situation is further complicated by conservative elites who control the criteria of scientific legitimacy, causing interdisciplinary research to be perceived as a threat to disciplinary identities. Against this backdrop, the study raises a central question: How do epistemic and institutional structures transform academic specialization from a tool for organizing knowledge into an epistemological constraint that hinders interdisciplinary engagement? To address this question, the research adopts a qualitative approach grounded in interpretive sociology, employing semi-structured interviews with twelve academics from Tunisian universities, complemented by institutional document analysis and participant observation. The study aims to identify the symbolic and material mechanisms through which disciplinary “knowledge fiefdoms” are maintained and to examine how disciplinary boundaries become hierarchical structures that perpetuate knowledge fragmentation, thereby providing an analytical framework to foster dialogue on reforming academic institutions for greater openness to interdisciplinary knowledge integration. knowledge integration.