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Short abstract:

The presentation examines the role of imaginaries of collaboration and how they facilitate, hinder, and shape collaborative action. Drawing from two ethnographic case studies, we present how researchers make sense of the research centers’ proposed imaginaries to work interdisciplinarily.

Long abstract:

The presentation examines the role of imaginaries of collaboration and how they facilitate, hinder, and shape collaborative action. Borrowing the notion of practice-bound imaginaries (Hyysalo, 2006), we seek to denote those imaginaries bound to the specific practice of interdisciplinary collaboration. Imaginaries of collaboration are thought to guide and provide meaning to collaboration; they are understood as concrete sets of expectations, tools, ways of doing, and imagining. The focus of the talk is on unraveling how imaginaries of collaboration come into being and how they are enacted. Specifically, we are interested in how taken-for-granted ideas typically associated with collaboration, such as “crossing boundaries,” "shared goals," and "equality," are represented in such imaginaries.

Drawing from two ethnographic case studies at the interdisciplinary research centers "Science of Intelligence" and "Digital Life Norway," we observe how researchers make sense of the centers’ proposed imaginaries to work interdisciplinarily. Both centers invested in shaping specific imaginaries of collaboration, providing expectations, visions, and tools. However, the imaginaries of collaboration animating collaboration successfully over time were unlike the centers' vision, characterized by non-linear, hybrid, and organic ideas. Our analysis unfolds the process of enacting these imaginaries.

These empirical findings prompt a broader reflection on the concept of collaboration, offering instructive insights for approaching collaborative endeavors differently: Do collaborations require convergence, shared understanding, and goals? Or can we imagine collaborations to work despite the differences and conflicts they may produce?