Creativity and epistemologies of the South

Abstract

This article explores the potential for rethinking creativity coming out of a particular type of socio-cultural critique represented by the ‘epistemologies of the South’. Our premise is that current theories of creativity are not only in close dialogue with larger debates around notions of personhood, agency, society, economy and our relation to the environment, but they also have important societal implications. At the same time, the conceptual and methodological narrowness specific for much theorising in this area makes the psychology of creativity largely incapable to answer calls for social transformation coming from different parts of the world, in particular from communities that experience colonialism and oppression. In order to situate our approach, we will first briefly introduce the Colombian case as a complex social, cultural and geographical space where the implications of Western colonial thinking remain obvious to this day. Second, we will discuss what is characteristic for the new epistemological foundations emerging from the global South and consider their impact on creativity theory. In the end, we will reflect on how a new conception of creativity contributes to thinking differently about the world and about our possibilities of acting within it not only scientifically and practically but also ethically.

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