Towards Transdisciplinary Integration in Global North–South Cooperation? Models for Investigative Collaboration Across the U.S.-Mexico Border

Abstract

This paper builds on models of multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration to advance a typology of collaborations in investigative journalism. The article also builds on an empirical content analysis of collaborative investigative coverage across the U.S.-Mexico (Global North–South) border. The article argues that existing models of collaborative journalism are overly generic to capture the range of different dynamics and power relations shaping the North–South collaborations. The analysis found that half of the empirical collaborations examined were ”interdisciplinary,” integrating ideas and methods throughout the investigative process. However, these were limited to narrow interdisciplinarity, meaning integration of similar ideas between proximate fields, rather than broad interdisciplinarity, meaning the integration of vastly different ideas from distant fields. Half of the projects were situated in a continuum between broad interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, featuring exemplary integration of diverse voices across the South and North and transforming practices and status quo, but failing to integrate local formats and indigenous and artistic reporting styles, or vice versa. The most transdisciplinary projects built on in-person collaboration in the South, suggesting the importance of cultural immersion for the successful integration and equality of Southern and Northern partners and perspectives.