Creativity and Culture: Towards a Cultural Psychology of Creativity in Folk Art
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The London School of Economics and Political Science Creativity and Culture: Towards a Cultural Psychology of Creativity in Folk Art Vlad Petre Glăveanu A thesis submitted to the Institute of Social Psychology of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, May 2012 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 98,584 words. Vlad Glăveanu 2 Abstract The present thesis aims to explore creativity as representation, action and cultural participation in the context of a traditional folk art. It develops a cultural psychological approach to the phenomenon, one that considers creativity situated between creators, creations, audiences, and a complex background of norms and beliefs. A tetradic framework is thus formulated trying to capture the dynamic between self and other, “new” and “old” in creative production and in particular their inter-relation through processes of integration, externalisation, internalisation and social interaction. This model guided the research design, starting from the three main questions of the thesis: how people attribute creative value to the craft, what makes the activity of decoration creative and how children’s engagement with this practice develops during ontogenesis. The folk art chosen for this study is Easter egg decoration in two socio-cultural milieus in Romania, the urban setting of Bucharest and the village of Ciocăneşti. This craft was selected for its rich symbolism and polyphony of practices that situate it at the intersection between folklore, religion, art and a growing market. In this context, the first research included in the thesis investigates patterns of creativity evaluation in the case of ethnographers, priests, art teachers and folk artists and highlights their relation to the practices and beliefs particular for each of these groups. The second study uses a pragmatist- inspired model to analyse creative action in the case of decorators from the urban and rural setting and outlines the general stages and micro-genetic aspects of creativity specific for both contexts. Finally, the last piece of research considers creativity development in the two settings above as shaped by different practices of socialisation and enculturation. In the end, reflections are offered on the general conception of egg decoration as mastery in ways that bring to the fore the interdependence between tradition and creativity and suggest the existence of habitual forms of creative expression. 3 Acknowledgments Writing a doctoral thesis is a long journey but fortunately it is not a lonely one. As any other journey, it is made up of encounters that enrich not only the research but also, and most of all, the researcher. I was fortunate enough to come across very special persons during my four-year “expedition”, people who supported me along the way, shared my joys, my hopes and also my anxieties, understood my project and made me understand it better myself. Now, at the end of this journey, I want to express my deep gratitude towards these wonderful companions and advisers, starting with my supervisor, Sandra Jovchelovitch, whose patient and stimulating guidance was invaluable for the present work. Travelling along the academic path I am also thankful for the advice and support received from Saadi Lahlou, Caroline Howarth, Ivana Marková, Derek Hook, Claudine Provencher and Lucia Garcia. As a student, this is of course a path one does not travel alone and I am particularly lucky to have met dear friends who made my time at the LSE and writing the PhD a lively and joyful task: Helen Amelia Green, Maria Brock, Jap Dhesi, Sara Belton, Rochelle Burgess, Ceren Yalcin, Mercy Nhamo, Ben Voyer, Soydan Soylu, Michael Zang, Morten Skovadal, Claudia Mollidor, Jacqueline Priego-Hernandez, Eleni Andreoulli, Mohammad Sartawi, Gordon Sammut, Max Hänska-Ahy, Roxana Bratu, Fryni Mylona, Caroline Léchot, Ana Moise. A very big thank you goes to Daniel Linehan, Jacqueline Crane, Terri-Ann FairClough, Steve Bennett, Steve Gaskell and Ly Voo for making a timely completion possible by kindly offering me all their support. And, as any voyage, this could not have started without financial means; the present research was generously funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Institute of Social Psychology (LSE), and Raţiu Family Foundation. Outside of the School, my PhD journey took me also to the “field”, in this case paradoxically mostly to the mountains where the village of Ciocăneşti is located but also to the southern part of Romania, to my home-town, Bucureşti. In the former I was very fortunate to be part, for a few months, of an idyllic community whose members received me with open arms and generously shared with me their time, their values and their art. My gratitude goes in particular to Marilena Niculiţă from the Museum of the Decorated Egg and Claudia Sandu, headmaster of the local school. In Bucureşti my first encounter with the fascinating topic of folk art was facilitated by the Museum of the Romanian Peasant whose dedicated team of ethnographers helped me immensely by introducing me to the Museum’s Easter egg collections. I am also thankful to Julieta Mihăilescu, headmaster of the school where I completed part of the research. In the end, it was each and every participant in my studies that made this journey possible, all showing me the way forward, teaching me something about their world and their love for egg decoration. This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Ioana-Corina and Petre, the ones who taught me the meaning and value of creativity. 4 Table of contents Declaration ............................................................................................................................... 2 Abstract .................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction: Creativity, culture, and craft ..................................................... 12 Aims of the research ................................................................................................. 12 Folk art as an object of study .................................................................................... 14 Outline of the thesis .................................................................................................. 17 Chapter summary .................................................................................................................. 21 1. Creativity and cultural psychology .............................................................. 22 1.1. Three paradigms of creativity theory and research ........................................... 24 1.1.1. The He-paradigm: The lone genius ..................................................... 24 1.1.2. The I-paradigm: The creative person .................................................. 26 1.1.3. The We-paradigm: Towards a social psychology of creativity ............ 27 1.2. Creativity and cultural psychology ..................................................................... 30 1.2.1. The cultural psychological approach .................................................. 31 1.2.2. A cultural definition of creativity ........................................................ 34 1.3. Theoretical model: Creativity as a cultural act ................................................... 35 1.3.1. Externalisation and cultural expression .............................................. 38 1.3.2. Socialisation of the creative artefact .................................................. 40 1.3.3. Internalisation and enculturation ....................................................... 42 1.3.4. Relations between creator and audience ........................................... 44 1.4. Implications of the cultural psychological approach .......................................... 46 1.4.1. Creativity as a contextual and generative process ............................. 47 1.4.2. New theoretical emphasis on meaning and action ............................ 48 1.4.3. The call for ecological research .......................................................... 49 1.5. Concluding on creativity and everyday community life ..................................... 50 Chapter summary .................................................................................................................. 52 2. Research context: Folk art and the creativity of everyday life .................... 53 2.1. Creativity and tradition: Two faces of the same coin ......................................... 55 5 2.1.1. Tradition working from within creativity ............................................ 56 2.1.2. Creativity working from within tradition ............................................ 58