Original Research

Exploring the epistemology of transdisciplinarity in public policy and administration in South Africa

Emeka A. Ndaguba, Edwin O.C. Ijeoma
The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa | Vol 13, No 1 | a406 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/td.v13i1.406 | © 2017 Emeka A. Ndaguba, Edwin O.C. Ijeoma | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 23 December 2016 | Published: 30 June 2017

About the author(s)

Emeka A. Ndaguba, Institute of Development Assistance Management, School of Government and Public Administration, University of Fort Hare, South Africa
Edwin O.C. Ijeoma, Institute of Development Assistance Management, School of Government and Public Administration, University of Fort Hare, South Africa

Abstract

This article seeks to address and direct future research collaboration in public policy and administration from a transdisciplinary perspective in South Africa, by answering three major questions: Firstly, how can public administration be understood from a transdisciplinary perspective? To demonstrate the development of public administration vis-a-vis trends in contemporary public policy and administration in South Africa? And establish the scope for future collaborative research in public policy and administration from a transdisciplinarity perspective in South Africa? This article uses themes in the qualitative realm to provide answers to the research aims: two special editions of Future, Transdisciplinary Manifesto and over 100 journal articles were read and scanned to provide evidence for the arguments in this article. It concludes that the need for transdisciplinarity in public policy and administration cannot be undermined or overlooked as a result of depleting strategies, theories, models and frameworks in resolving complex society quagmires from a disciplinary or interdisciplinary nomenclature.

Keywords

transdisciplinarity; public administration; public policy; disciplinarity; interdisciplinarity; crossdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity; decolonization; openness

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Crossref Citations

1. The peril of international development in local context and the misfit of poverty analysis in Africa
E. A. Ndaguba, Barry Hanyane, Robert Read
Cogent Social Sciences  vol: 4  issue: 1  first page: 1550908  year: 2018  
doi: 10.1080/23311886.2018.1550908