Of lakes and knowledges: between disciplinary enclosures and the pursuit of “full transdisciplinarity”

Abstract

The article discusses the challenges and opportunities facing interdisciplinary attempts to produce knowledge about water and lake-related processes. It examines key aspects of the long-standing debates on this topic and discusses the state of the art providing empirical examples. The article argues that, notwithstanding the significant progress achieved in disciplines and fields of knowledge relevant to water-related research, the development of interdisciplinary coordination, particularly between the physical–natural and the social sciences remains underdeveloped. However, the fact that the extreme global crisis affecting water and life in the planet, more generally, has a primarily anthropogenic nature suggests that there are urgent reasons to promote greater collaboration between different forms of knowledge relevant to these processes. The main objective is contributing to raise awareness about obstacles and opportunities for enhanced interdisciplinary coordination in these areas, to tackle the urgent problems facing the socio-hydrosphere.