The differences between cultures and media, which I take for granted, are less important to me than the way they connect – let’s say, inter-connect. This is why I use the preposition “inter-” rather than “trans-“. I have coined the generalizing term “inter-ship” as an encountering way of merging that never leaves the items involved as they were before. Hence, transformation is key to all inter-ships. But I keep the preposition “trans-” in mind for the idea of transgression: overstepping boundaries. For, all forms of inter-ship involve transgressions of boundaries. The result of this combination of encountering and transgressing can become clear in many interdisciplinary analyses and practices, whether done by scholars or by artists. An instructive artistic example is the Indian artist Nalini Malani, one of the most productive creators of politically powerful, activating art. She makes her viewers think, animated as they are by the experience of her work. And the thinking propels advances, ameliorations; hence, progress. Activating, thus, is the best result of such interships. Between Asia and Europe, Malani blends culturally specific items, such as myths, painting styles, stories, and traditions. None of these remain the same. One intership will always impact on the previous situation. This also holds for more practical work.

I will argue for interdisciplinarity in scholarship and skills in particular in order to advocate the recognition of the importance, academic and otherwise, of leaving dogmatic methodologies behind, not necessarily rejecting them but making them less dominant, in favour of the enriching potential of inter-ships that enable the participation of creativity in what we already know, or think we know.

Mieke Bal is a cultural theorist, critic, video artist, and curator. She has published over 40 books. Her view of interdisciplinary analysis in the Humanities and Social Sciences is expressed in what she has termed “cultural analysis” and through “travelling concepts”.

Frédéric Darbellay is professor in Inter- and Transdisciplinary Studies at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), Head of the Inter- and Transdisciplinarity Unit at the Center for Children’s Rights Studies (CIDE) and the CIDE Deputy Director.