Collaboration and ‘potential space’: creative play in the writing alliance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Graduate students writing on their own often struggle with knowledge production and identity conflicts. Conversely, writing with others presents its own set of challenges, as collaborators struggle to define roles and expectations. To systematically foster and teach collaborative writing practices for graduate students, we performed a self study of collaborative writing. We utilized Winnicott’s (1991. Playing and Reality. Psychology Press) theory of ‘potential space,’ based on the therapeutic alliance, to cultivate a communal writing space online. Our ‘writing alliance’ can model the socialization of graduate students across the many working relationships they forge: with colleagues (horizontal), with committees (vertical), and, in the case of learning support programs like ours, in a neutral ‘third space.’ Across these collaborative spaces, students come to see themselves as full and valued participants in knowledge formation in their discipline. We hope that these mutually-supportive experiences foster more inclusive practices in academia, particularly for students from marginalized backgrounds.