Tradition, Change, Creativity


Book Description

A companion volume to It is a New Kind of Diaspora. Taking up where that book leaves off, it traces some of the consequences of the emigration of German and Austrian psychoanalysts to London, particularly in the context of the British Psycho-Analytical Society's "Controversial Discussions". The first part of the book, "Tradition and Change" traces some general issues related to the Discussions, in particular drawing on documentary sources from the Archives of the British Psycho-Analytical Society. The second part focuses on one crucial issue in the Discussions - the differing interpretations formulated about the psychic life of babies during the first six months of life. Throughout this section, and the rest of the book, the author constantly stresses the larger social and political contexts within which psychoanalysis exists. The last part examines the legacy of the Discussions in the work of one of the most distinguished Kleinian analysts, Hanna Segal, and in particular her work on creativity and aesthetics.




Music Traditions, Change and Creativity in Africa


Book Description

In February 2014 an international seminar on musical dynamics and creativity in Africa was held at Tor Vergata University of Rome. The topic and the approach were strongly influenced by issues that Gerhard Kubik believed should have been addressed for a long time, such as the attention to cultural and social dynamics, with a specific emphasis on the creativity of individuals. Beside his keynote address, Music Traditions, Change and Creativity in Africa includes the contributions presented by scholars from different countries, particularly active in the East African area and in dialogue with Italian researchers who have field experience in the same region. Music Traditions, Change and Creativity in Africa is the first monograph of a series of volumes connected and inspired to the journal Etnografie Sonore / Sound Ethnographies (www.soundethnographies.it), which Giorgio Adamo and his colleagues recently founded. Along with the papers multimedia contents are also available online.




Invention of Tradition and Syncretism in Contemporary Religions


Book Description

This book explores manifestations of creativity in the religious domain. Specifically, the contributions focus on the nexus of the sacred and the creative, and the mechanisms of syncretism and (re)invention of tradition by which this manifestations occur. The text is divided into two sections. In the first, empirical cases of spirituality characterized by syncretistic processes are highlighted; in the second, examples which can be traced back to forms of the (re)invention of tradition are examined. The authors document possible forms of adaptations and religious enculturation. In the second, the authors demonstrate that spiritual traditions, whether ancient or historically fictitious, are suitable for reframing in the context of critical interpretative frameworks related to cultural expectations which challenge them and call their continuity into question.




Tradition in Creative Writing


Book Description

Tradition in Creative Writing: Finding Inspiration Through Your Roots encourages writers to rediscover sources of creativity in the everyday, showing students how to see your writing as connected to your life. Adrian May addresses a key question for many beginning writers: Where do you get your ideas from? May argues that tradition does not mean anti-progress—but is instead a kind of hidden wealth that stems from literary and historical traditions, folk and songs, self and nature, and community. By drawing on these personal and traditional wellsprings of inspiration, writers will learn to see their writing as part of a greater continuum of influences and view their work as having innate value as part of that cultural and artistic ecology. Each chapter includes accessible discussion, literary and critical readings, creative examples, and writing exercises. While the creative examples are drawn from song lyrics and poetry, the writing exercises are appropriate for all genres. Undergraduates and practitioners will benefit from this guide to finding originality in writing through exploring sources of creative inspiration.




Wisdom Tradition


Book Description







Creative Context


Book Description

The purpose of this volume is to broaden scholars' analytical perspective by placing the creative industries in frameworks that compare and contrast them with other kinds of entities, organizations, and social forms that mix creativity and production. In other words, this volume aims to set out an emerging agenda for the study of creativity in the cultural and media industries. Although this work focuses on the media and cultural industries, they are investigated in the context of other groups and organizations connecting forms of creativity with an explicit emphasis on turning ideas into concrete practices and products. The originality of this book lies in (1) presenting a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective that develops a new framework and analytical concepts to understand the notion of creativity in the media and cultural industries, and (2) providing a series of fresh empirically based studies of the process of creativity in fields such as advertising, fashion, animation, and pop culture. This comparative move is taken in order to generate new insights about the particular features of the creative industries and new questions for future analysis.




Tradition and Creativity


Book Description

The terms "culture" and "civilization" have too often been used interchangeably in referring to accomplishments in the spiritual, intellectual, and material domains, and human progress from the uncultivated to the refined. But in reality, they have a twofold meaning, as the essays in this book attest. The eight prominent scholars in this volume, working in their respective areas of expertise, offer either new perspectives or new syntheses on the study of the subjects under discussion. In discussing various aspects of Chinese and Japanese cultures, these essays either offer new perspectives or new syntheses on the study of the topics under discussion. In addition, they share a common effort to underscore the importance of the humanistic tradition in East Asian civilization. Authored by leading scholars in the field, they represent the current scholarship in the West on the study of Chinese and Japanese cultures, and contribute significantly to a better understanding of East Asia. Contents: Preface: Ching-I Tu; Popular Religions in Japan: Faith, Belief, and Behavior, Robert J. Smith; Virtuous Wives and Good Mothers-Women in Chinese Society, Marilyn B. Young; Popular Culture in China, Evelyn S. Rawski; Japanese Culture and Foreign Affairs, Akira Iriye; Chinese Culture: High Integration and Hard Modernization, James T.C. Liu; Modern Art Criticism and Chinese Painting History, Wen C. Fong; Religion and Literature in China: The "Obscure Way" of The Journey to the West, Anthony C. Yu; Management and Labor in the Japanese Economy, Solomon B. Levine




The Systems Model of Creativity


Book Description

This first volume of the Collected Works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi represents his work on Art and Creativity. Starting with his seminal 1964 study on creativity up to his 2010 publication in Newsweek, the volume spans over four decades of research and writing and clearly shows Csikszentmihalyi’s own development as an academic, psychologist, researcher and person. Unconventional and unorthodox in his approach, Csikszentmihalyi chose the topic of creativity as a field of study believing it would help him be a better psychologist and advance his understanding of how to live a better life. The chapters in this volume trace the history of the study of creativity back to the days of Guilford and research on IQ and Jacob Getzels’ work on creativity and intelligence. Firmly grounded in that history, yet extending it in new directions, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi started his life-long study on artistic creativity. His first extensive study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago enabled him to observe, test and interview fine art students drawing in a studio. The study formed the very basis of all his work on the subject and has resulted in several articles, represented in this volume, on such creativity-related concepts as problem solving versus problem finding, the personality of the artist, the influence of the social context, creativity as a social construction, developmental issues and flow. The main contribution to the topic of creativity and also the main concept explored in this volume, is the Systems Model of Creativity. Seven chapters in this volume discuss the development of this conceptual model and theory.