This project centers around interviews with professional and/or personal acquaintances of Elinor and Vincent Ostrom. Every interview explores a unique relationship with the Ostroms and the continuing impact of the Ostrom Workshop at Indiana University. Elinor (Lin) and Vincent Ostrom founded the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis in 1973.The Ostrom Workshop has been the catalyst for worldwide collaboration in the field of public policy and environmental issues. "Coming Together" is an interdisciplinary exploration of the legacy and impact of Elinor (Lin) and Vincent Ostrom. Major topics include; academia, "the commons", cross-disciplinary collaboration, Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize, the Ostrom Workshop, political science, political theory, and the Workshop on the Ostrom Workshop (WOW) conference. The project was created to assist in the dissertation research of Sara Catherine Clark, who was a doctoral candidate within the School of Education, pursing a Ph.D. in History, Philosophy, and Policy in Education, at Indiana University Bloomington. Sara Catherine Clark's dissertation was completed in 2019 and is cited as follows: Clark, S. C. (2019). Elinor ostrom: A biography of interdisciplinary life.
Eduardo Brondizio is a professor of Anthropology at Indiana University. He met Elinor Ostrom while developing a proposal for a Center of excellence on the study of population, institutions, and environmental change (CIPEC). He discusses the way the Ostroms built teams by creating a space where common language was upheld above discipline specific language and the overarching idea of research around problems, not disciplines. He goes on to describe how he began working at the Ostrom Workshop and what he does there now. Personal and last memories of Elinor Ostrom are also shared.
Brett Frischmann is a law professor at Villanova University. Frischmann met Elinor Ostrom in Chicago where she gave a guest lecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He reflects how Elinor Ostrom influenced his research and her strengths as a mentor. He then discusses how Ostrom's work with the commons and methodologies will be looked at in the future. As an affiliate faculty member of the Ostrom Workshop, Frischmann is able to discuss his vision for the Ostrom Workshop going forward.
Jeffrey Hart is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Indiana University Bloomington. Hart opens the interview by discussing his initial meeting with Elinor Ostrom, he was interviewing to teach at Indiana University and Elinor Ostrom was about to become the chair of the Department of Political Science. He is also connected to the Vincent Ostrom through a family connection on his wife's side, Joan Hart. He goes onto discuss the way Elinor Ostrom interacted with her graduate students and the influence she had. Hart discusses more of his own research on international political economy and the way that did or did not intertwine with the Ostrom Workshop. This discussion eventually leads to conversation of the future of political science. The interview ends with Hart recalling the Ostrom legacy including the intellectual community the Ostrom Workshop fostered.