‘What is the project?’: A fine‐grained study of some key challenges to interdisciplinary teaching and learning in the humanities

Abstract Interdisciplinary teaching and learning in the humanities (Humanities ITL) has gained prominence in recent decades. Yet to date, empirical research has largely emphasised its benefits and affordances, with far fewer studies examining the challenges it poses. The present study advances our understanding of how such challenges emerge in practice and how they intersect. Drawing on linguistic‐ethnographic methods, a fine‐grained lens is applied to the enactment of Humanities ITL curricular units in two secondary schools. The analysis reveals that the epistemic challenge is distinct from institutional hurdles and more resilient than them, persisting even where institutional support was abundant. Overall, the findings suggest that without deep disciplinary fluency, Humanities ITL risks drifting into parallel disciplinary tracks rather than achieving genuine integration.