Academic Territories: how they present and demark themselves.

Abstract

Starting from Tony Bechers und Paul Trowlers Academic Tribes and Territories the article firstly discusses linguistic and socio-cultural conditions of statements and the influence they have on constituting scientific disciplines. In the second part the author investigates how national traditions preform knowledge and its acquisition; used as a metaphor the term ‘territory’ shows how tribal habits can be used as a model for gathering and evaluating knowledge. In the third part it is asked how and how far disciplines and national criteria are compatible and how a global consensus emerges. Part four includes a sketch on the coherence of differently interpreted territories (and respective tribes inhabiting them) and discusses mechanisms of recruiting new academics. In a final part all of this is related to the author’s professional experience lasting for over fifty years.