Can I Ask You a Question?

When considering the role of dialog in scholarly work, what forms and approaches get taken up and why? In this creative-critical scholarly collection, scholars in writing studies collaborate with each other through a dialog that spans multiple years, including a time before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this collaboration, the authors seek to answer philosophical questions about the overlapping scholarly work of professional writing and sound studies in the context of rhetoric and writing studies. Furthermore, the authors work to document their process of thinking through, responding, and remixing their ideas over time. The result is an edited collection that highlights both the process of making and the knowledge that comes from being so intentional about not just what we believe, but how we discover, share, and refine our ideas over time.

What began as a recorded dialog with colleagues about how professional writing and sound studies could work more closely together became something more. The outcome of the project demonstrated an unexpected but welcomed commentary on the role of dialog in knowledge-making, how paying attention to what emerges from collaborative work can lead moments of important learning and unforeseen intellectual synergies, and the importance of creative-critical work in today’s academic knowledge-making.