When Theory Meets Practice: Promoting Participatory Creativity Through World‐Building

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article addresses that there has been a shift in the field of creativity, evidenced in the socio‐cultural manifesto written in 2019. This shift invites us to rethink our focus on education. The change proposed here is a change of perspective: stop focusing on the individual and instead consider the whole picture where the individual encounters a context with others and materials to think. The individual seeks a purpose in the world that allows a point of view to emerge. World‐building proposes a similar shift when it comes to storytelling. The objective is to develop a story not around a character but imagining a world where individuals emerge. This article seeks to understand whether this particular outtake on education might be a way to foster this perspective on creativity. To answer this question, we will analyze the students' final reflections once they finish the semester. The answers belong to two different cohorts, in the year 2021 and 2022, from the Universidad Austral in Argentina. The student's responses will be analyzed using the coding method developed by Strauss and Corbin. The codes will allow us to group the main findings. Each family group will be described to understand if they are similar to what the manifesto states.