This article begins with the proposition that inter-and transdisciplinarity offer an important methodological grounding for collaborative HE research addressing complex agendas such as HE internationalization. Internationalization acts as a figure for the 'troubled' nature of higher education; hence we begin with the larger problem, discussing the current crises of disciplinary knowledge as the background question. We set out a framework for understanding and conceptualizing interand transdisciplinarity as a meta-theoretical approach that problematizes reductive and disciplinary approaches, in favour of research and analytical strategies which can work with, and across, differences. To work further through and operationalize different possibilities offered by interand transdisciplinary approaches to HE internationalizations, we discuss the use of tools such as social cartography to do 'bridging work' across different disciplinary and theoretical backgrounds