The power of interdisciplinary collaboration


Collaboration is a crucial part of interdisciplinary scholarship. While tenure and promotion processes often emphasize individual research (at least in the humanities and many social sciences), the collective strength of scholarly collaboration can enhance the depth, scope, and impact of interdisciplinary research. This month’s Ideas on Fire newsletter offers resources for scholarly collaboration within and beyond the academy.

One of the most prominent forms of scholarly collaboration is co-authorship. Writing together allows scholars to combine expertise and produce insights not usually possible in single-author work. Co-authorship not only distributes the workload but also enables cross-pollination of ideas from different perspectives. Effective co-authorship requires clear communication and division of tasks to ensure that all contributors’ voices and efforts are fairly represented.

Co-teaching is another wonderful mode for scholarly collaboration, and the benefits to both teachers and students are enormous. Co-teaching can create a better learning environment for students, inspire new ways of thinking, and foster self-reflexive pedagogy. Laura Zaylea and Adrienne Shaw detail their unique co-teaching technique and offer tips for managing a co-teaching classroom that ensures a shared vision and mutual respect.

The daily practices we use to write, edit, and publish interdisciplinary work are a crucial way we collaborate and build community as well. Cathy Hannabach explains how placing critical generosity at the heart of such collaborations can help build better worlds.

Collaborative community building isn’t solely a local practice either. Nicosia Shakes shares how women’s theater collectives and scholars build transnational feminist community across geographic spaces. She provides models for how artists, academics, and activists can forge such networks and sustain them as well.

Finally, centering critical generosity in our approach to peer review and citationality is a vital part of interdisciplinary collaboration. Josen Masangkay Diaz, Dolores Inés Casillas, April D.J. Petillo, and Cathy Hannabach discuss the feminist futures of peer review and how scholars, editors, and organizations like Ideas on Fire are building more collaborative and just publishing worlds through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Academic publishing workshops

Customized Zoom-based and in-person workshops that equip interdisciplinary scholars with the skills and insights needed to navigate the complex landscape of academic publishing.

⚽️ GLAAD Olympics and Paralympics Guide

The LGBTQ Paris Olympic and Paralympic Guide we edited for GLAAD is now live!

This guide for journalists, fans, editors, athletes, scholars, and media producers provides guidance on ensuring inclusive and accurate coverage of LGBTQ athletes and topics during the Olympics and Paralympics.


Dance studies in Buenos Aires

Getting excited for the Dance Studies Association conference in Buenos Aires? We are too! To prepare, check out the Ideas on Fire Guide to the DSA conference.


It's full of

  • conference presentation resources
  • best practices for virtual participation (especially useful if you can't make it to Buenos Aires this year!)
  • awesome dance studies books by Ideas on Fire authors
  • a curated playlist of interviews
  • and an exclusive offer for a free publishing consultation about your book project

Best practices for writing and publishing edited collections

Tips for soliciting authors, finding the right press, managing the publishing process, and promoting your edited collection.

Budgeting for editing and indexing on your books and articles

How interdisciplinary scholars can best budget for editing and indexing support without breaking the bank.

🎙️ Imagine Otherwise

Natalie Zervou on Dance in the Age of Austerity

The latest episode of Imagine Otherwise features Cathy Hannabach’s interview with dance studies scholar and Ideas on Fire author Natalie Zervou about Greek dance worlds in the wake of the Greek financial crisis.

Natalie is the author of Performing the Greek Crisis: Navigating National Identity in the Age of Austerity, which was recently published by the University of Michigan Press on behalf of the Dance Studies Association and indexed by Ideas on Fire.

🏆 Lambda Literary Awards

A gigantic congratulations to Ideas on Fire author Erin Durban for winning the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Studies for their book The Sexual Politics of Empire: Postcolonial Homophobia in Haiti​!

Another round of applause for Ideas on Fire author Jennifer Dominique Jones who was a finalist for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Studies for her book Ambivalent Affinities: A Politics History of Blackness and Homosexuality After World War II​!

📚 New books!

Fascinating new interdisciplinary titles by ​#IoFAuthors​. Grab your copies at our Bookshop storefront to support these scholars, Ideas on Fire, and your local bookstore.

When Monsters Speak

A Susan Stryker Reader

Susan Stryker and McKenzie Wark

Duke University Press

A powerful collection of groundbreaking scholarship by feminist transgender theorist and historian Susan Stryker.

Affective Bordering

Race, Deservingness and the Emotional Politics of Border Control

Billy Holzberg

Manchester University Press

A cogent critique of the racial and affective politics of border policy and debates in Germany.

Domestic Workers in Indonesia

Feminist Activism and a Politics of Presence

Mary Austin

Liverpool University Press

An inspiring study of the feminist movement for domestic worker rights in Indonesia.

Queens of Afrobeat

Women, Play, and Fela Kuti's Music Rebellion

Dotun Ayobade

Indiana University Press

A vibrant celebration of the women dancers, musicians, and activists who created the Afrobeat genre of music.

Bonus: Stay tuned for an upcoming episode of Imagine Otherwise with an interview with Dotun about the Queens and this fantastic book.

Atmospheric Violence

Disaster and Repair in Kashmir

Omer Aijazi

University of Pennsylvania Press

A touching tribute to the everyday living and survival strategies created in atmospheres of empire and disaster.

Trafficking Rhetoric

Race, Migration, and the Making of Modern-Day Slavery

Annie Hill

Ohio State University Press

A multifaceted critique of how UK anti-trafficking rhetoric mobilizes racially gendered logics to extend state violence.

Spark new worlds with your writing

Take the stress out of publishing and see why so many interdisciplinary scholars trust Ideas on Fire to edit and index their books and articles.

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© 2024 Ideas on Fire LLC

Ideas on Fire

We are an academic publishing and consulting agency helping progressive, interdisciplinary scholars write and publish awesome texts, enliven public conversations, and create more just worlds.

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