Mapping Out the “Co” in Collaborative Work: External Pressures, Institutional Responses, and Individual Affects

Abstract:In response to demands for scholarly innovation and a younger generation’s research approaches, collaborative work has become increasingly common on American campuses. Against the backdrop of the neoliberalization of higher education and the concomitant emphasis on quantifying research productivity, we reflect on the meanings of collaborative work for us as feminist scholars and teachers working within the humanities. In particular, we draw attention to the varying and often overlooked emotions academic collaborations can provoke as we work with others across hierarchies and disciplines. While collaborative work may take already-familiar forms like coediting or co-teaching, we must develop ways to value (and to evaluate) more radical forms of collaboration, such as blending multiple voices in essays or books, that challenge notions of individual achievement. Successful collaborative work cannot be mandated. Yet we each might want to consider what forms we can embrace and how we can help create the space for those collaborations aimed at bringing about meaningful institutional change.