A quick question game

In light of the Wittgenstein reading and the rest of the course material we've already tackled, I'd like to present a few questions of my own (sans any actual answers though).

Before I start though, I would like to note that after reading part one, I may be beginning to understand why parents often get annoyed when children ask so many questions. For normal parents, there comes a point in which you are backed in a corner with a question that you don't actually have an intelligent answer for. Children are like Wittgenstein, they expose your assumptions and lack of logic application that is supposed to be the mark of adulthood and humanity (in this case, academia).

Are we supposed to be just grappling with the material? or demonstrating mastery over it? Metaphorically, are quotes my medals of honor and discussion points my battle stories? (scars included)

We've talked about the fractalization of the discipline and its presentation as a nicely outlined family tree of sorts, and the importance of understanding the scholarly heritage of those in the field we choose to cite, but what about research interest areas that are not limited to political science/IR? For example, development literature, depending on the path you take crosses many disciplines, POLS, Econ, earth science, I've even seen work in sociology journals and this list is by no means exhaustive. How can we ascertain the scholarly heritage of scholars in fields in which we are not familiar?