To Fill Academic Work with Political Passion: Nina Lykke's Cosmodolphins and Contemporary Post/Academic Writing Strategies

Abstract

This article is part of a project, which builds on interviews with feminist scholars about the complex activity of writing research. The focus is on exploring processes of writing and genre in the context of a feminist academic author’s career and to reflect on these in relation to a context of contemporary post/academic writing strategies. The article builds on a publicly staged dialogue with Nina Lykke, Professor of Gender Studies with special reference to Gender and Culture at Linkoping University, Sweden, focusing on themes such as academic authoring, ‘wild others’ and unexpected encounters. In particular the writing of Lykke’s book Cosmodolphins. Feminist Cultural Studies of Technology, Animals and the Sacred (with Mette Bryld, 2000) is acknowledged. Political passion and queerness pave way for analysing the emergence of a genre-blending creative writing methodology. The article argues that contemporary multiple and shifting interdisciplinary forms of writing methodologies are the product of complex conditions related to terrains of academic life, social relations of power, and for feminist scholars - a passion for change.