Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Innovation Beyond Borders

On Alternative Feminist Discourses of Innovation

Bibliographic Data

ID18968479
AuthorsKarin Berglund (0000-0002-6843-4038, Stockholm University, corresponding author), Katarina Pettersson (0000-0001-8336-9505, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume5
Issue2
Pages22
Publication date2021-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Encounters A Journal of Critical Studies in Culture and Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2468-4414 • E-ISSN: 2468-4414
PublisherLectito Publications (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.20897/femenc/11158
OpenAlexW3198488907
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited17

In this article a feminist intervention is undertaken to mobilise alternative innovation discourses that recognise activity and passivity as enmeshed – as ‘pactive’. Activity is found to perpetuate the mainstream innovation discourse, aligned with a male construct of an active and rational being. Thus, passivity is viewed as a concept that helps problematise, analyse, negotiate and transgress the discursive borders of innovation. The study is empirically driven from ethnographic insights that emerged in two research projects conducted in Sweden over four years, comprising 50 interviews. For the purpose of this article four cases are selected as they provide strong examples of how slowness is affirmed and integrated in everyday practices of innovation where activity and passivity are entwined. To mobilise alternative feminist discourses of innovation we take inspiration from philosopher Jonna Bornemark’s concept of pactivity (a combination of activity and passivity) and Sara Ahmed’s discussion of emotions, where passivity is related to passion and openness. Applying these two lenses to the empirical cases, aspects of pactivity are analysed and four alternative discourses of innovation are mobilised, making it possible to envision innovation as a social process where people stand in relation to their non-knowing, have space to be both passive and passionate and thus are open for enactment

Mainstream · Narrative · Negotiation · Openness to experience · Passivity · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Engineering · Gender Studies · Innovation, Technology, and Society · Innovative Education and Learning Practices · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology

  • Participation under constraint

    Open Access•Yudi Rusfiana, Sudarmono et al.•Feminist Encounters A Journal of…•2026

  • Coalition Science

    Open Access•Stephanie B Jordan, Jennifer L Lieberman•Feminist Encounters A Journal of…•2025

  • The Cultural Politics of Emotion

    Sara Ahmed, Sara Ahmed Sayed Ali•Cultural Politics of Emotion•2014

  • Extending the Boundaries

    Marta Β Calás, Marta B Calás et al.•Academy of Management Review•2009

  • Hidden in the limelight

    Open Access•Lara Pecis, Karin Berglund•Organization•2021

  • Real Social Science

    Open Access•F Schram, A W Frank et al.•Real Social Science•2012

  • Gender Trouble

    Judith Butler•Gender Trouble•2011

  • Open innovation, gender and the infiltration of masculine discourses

    Open Access•Björn Remneland Wikhamn, David Knights et al.•International Journal of Gender…•2013

  • Gender and innovation

    Open Access•Gry Agnete Alsos, Elisabet Ljunggren et al.•International Journal of Gender…•2013

  • Paradoxical spaces of feminist resistance

    Open Access•Katarina Pettersson, Malin Lindberg et al.•International Journal of Gender…•2013

  • The ‘new industrial man’ as unhero

    Open Access•Lara Pecis, Vincenza Priola•Gender Work and Organization•2019

  • Interdisciplinary Approaches to Achieving Gendered Innovations in Science, Medicine, and Engineering 1

    L Schiebinger, Martina Schraudner•Interdisciplinary Science Reviews•2011

  • Doing and undoing gender in innovation

    Open Access•Lara Pecis•Human Relations•2016

  • Rethinking Innovation

    Open Access•Megan K Blake, Megan Blake et al.•Environment and Planning A…•2005

Citations per year2
Citation span2025 - 2026 (2)
Highly citedNo

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae