Creativity and Interdisciplinarity

Abstract

Abstract. While creativity is increasingly being promoted in educational, economic, social, and cultural discourse as a 21st-century skill, there is still plenty of room for progress in actual practices in these different areas where conformism and standardization remain traditionally important. In order to understand the issues of creativity, including its potentialities and resistance to its acceptance, this article addresses the creative process in all its multidimensional complexity. The field of Creativity studies strongly favors the psychological approach to tackle its complexity, but it also opens up to a fertile dialog with a range of other viewpoints, such as sociological, anthropological, cultural, economic, and so forth. This contribution looks at Creativity studies from an interdisciplinary perspective. Based on epistemological advances in the field of inter- and transdisciplinary studies, creativity is viewed as a complex subject of study across several disciplines. To complement this approach, interdisciplinary work is itself conceived as a creative process that acts between and beyond disciplinary boundaries. The interface between interdisciplinarity and creativity is also considered in conclusion from the angle of the specific characteristics and skills shared by people who implement creative interdisciplinary activities.