Reflections on Study at Penryn: Interdisciplinary Learning and Community
Throughout my three-year combined honours degree of English and Geography at the Penryn Campus, there were many moments of complete synchronisation and mutual benefit, however, these often coexisted alongside those of being stretched in two different directions with two very different dialogues. Yet ultimately this risk of being one of only two students in my year to study this combination, brought with it the reward of my own unique lens with which I could view both subjects and create my own dialogue in each. I found an interdisciplinary degree allowed for a deeper understanding of both subjects.
Cornwall proved a perfect stage from which to study this combination, and itself gave me a dichotomy, that of global and local which encouraged and supported me. While my courses and lecturers constantly challenged and expanded my ideas on global issues, the coastal setting and towns of Penryn and Falmouth offered community and closeness, alongside endless vistas and landscapes to inspire my environmental studies whilst also providing a refuge in nature if ever needed.
My whole degree was built around my love of nature and not wishing to choose between the two lenses of science and literature – the combination allowed me a point of view and critical understanding I would not otherwise have had. From this I could interrogate landscape and literature and the cyclical relationships between them. Thus, I was able to marry the critical theories of animal geography, pastoralism and Romanticism with the dichotomies of urban and rural, and human and nature. The culmination of these discourses was my dissertation entitled Voicing the Otter: The Pastoral, Nationalism and Anthropomorphism in Twentieth-Century Literature where I was able to fully submerge into all the critical fields outlined above and unite them into one work.
My degree showed me that knowledge belongs to us all, and experts can simply be classed as those with the lived experience that research is focused on.
The main difficulty I struggled with in my degree was the difference in writing style. Where each requires a unique standpoint as the centre of a piece of writing, English is much more reliant on the exploration of one’s own ideas and narrative voice and how they are supported by critical literature. Geography is more about exploring the terrain of the debate (to quote one of my lecturers) around your unique standpoint; to ensure that all the discourses around your idea are included, even if they do not align with your own ideas the full range must be acknowledged. These contrasts did mean that I could struggle to feel I was truly honing one voice or the other, especially when keeping up with deadlines with two subjects that were not timetabled together. I could feel like I was also playing catch-up and compare results to those only honing one voice. Yet with a larger piece of work, which allowed more time to research and write, such as my dissertation, I felt able to craft and create my voice. Alongside this I really believe that I was able to cultivate the standpoint needed for a successful piece of work through my combination of subjects and the critical discourses I was exposed to, which for me I do not believe I would have found with one subject alone.
Whilst the evolution of my degree highlighted to me ways in which I personally have experienced traditional methods of learning being unhomed through interdisciplinarity, one specific incident not only altered the way in which I would approach the environmental studies I seek out, but all cultivation of knowledge especially the view of knowledge belonging to ‘experts’ that can be perceived in higher education. Interning in the geography department for one month in the summer between 2nd and 3rd year, I assisted in workshops surrounding social innovation in Cornish communities alongside writing a literature review on the subject. My eyes were opened through language such as ‘co-production’ and ‘co-authors’ which reinforces the notion not only that knowledge can be co-created by students and lecturers alike, but experts can also simply be classed as those with the lived experience that research is focussed on. This in turn can close the ‘relevance gap’ of research, ensuring it touches the outside world it is informed by and does not merely remain within an academic sphere.
my masters allowed me to engage with scientific discourses, yet with an understanding of human constructions of nature.
Following on from my undergraduate degree of English and Geography, to further my studies of nature and the environment I undertook a Masters in Biodiversity and Conservation at Penryn Campus. This allowed me to engage with scientific discourses, yet with an understanding of human constructions of nature which I gained from literature and geography; for example, types of land use and how humans can perceive nature as something potentially other to our anthropological sphere or part of a biological whole. Whilst my three subjects may appear disconnected at first glance, my love of nature and communication, which I now hope to build into a career, has been the driver throughout. The fact I was able to spend four years in Cornwall was a happy bonus.
Through my joint-honours degree and the multitude of discourses this afforded me, alongside the idea of experts being those with lived experience and that knowledge belongs to us all, the notion has been built and repeatedly reinforced that a multitude of lenses can add strength to any focal point. I believe that interdisciplinarity should be a central tool of study and knowledge.
