Creative Moment Research Articles

Through Thick and Thin

Through Thick and Thin

Pariyerum Perumal and a Periyarite Note on Political Engagement

What was in the rhetoric of Periyar that moved an entire people in a direction that has continuing political relevance? How does his style respond to concerns about how we may engage within contemporary political formations, especially given that his work continues to resist being co-opted by his detractors? Analysing the formal elements of a 1931 speech by Periyar, delivered at Nagapattinam, I investigate the movements in his rhetoric which repeatedly mobilises the self as a site of political action. I argue that Periyar’s presentation of the self provides a distinct avenue of political engagement that substantiates the notion of inner conflict as crucial to the development of the titular hero in the 2018 Tamil film Pariyerum Perumal. Methodologically, I draw on the work of the relational psychoanalytic thinker D.W. Winnicott; in particular, his concept of ‘playing’, which refers to the creative moment of passionate immediate engagement with the other that opens up a potent space of understanding and is vital for survival. I show how charting out the various dimensions of this moment of creative play in these two works is crucial to further our understanding of the politics of Periyar and the journey of Pariyerum Perumal.

Led Around by the Nose

Led Around by the Nose

An Attempt to Grasp Resonance during Co-Creation with Biosignal Indicators

AbstractResonance is known as an important phenomenon where individual creative moments resonate with each other during co-creation. The purpose of this study is to capture this co-creative moment as a resonant cognitive status with biosignal indicators. The authors conducted an experiment in which pairs of participants work on concept generation from two nouns and measured their dynamic creative status both subjectively and objectively with biosignal indicators fEMG and EOG. This study will help to understand co-creative cognitive phenomena and to improve the co-creative design process.

CONTENT ANALYSIS OF SPEAKING MATERIALS IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK “PATHWAY TO ENGLISH” FOR THE TENTH GRADE STUDENTS OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

This paper aimed to find out the degrees of linguistic supports, content-based and affective supports, skill supports, and diversity and flexibility of speaking materials in “Pathway to English” for the tenth-grade students of senior high school. This was a descriptive research type with content analysis. The English textbook “Pathway to English” was published by Erlangga. The theory of Dat Bao was used to analyze the data. Based on the analysis, the result of linguistic support shows 36.36 % which means “Poor”. The result of content-based and affective support shows 54.54 % which means “Sufficient”. The result of skill support shows 45.45 % which means “Poor”. Diversity and flexibility show the result 45.45 % which is “Poor”. It is concluded that the speaking materials are not fully supported inspiration, imagination, creativity, and cultural sensibilities to satisfy learners with moments of inspiration, imagination, creativity, and cultural sensibilities, lack of spoken language characteristics, communication function and strategies, and a variety of speaking materials. It implies that the materials should be elaborated to fulfill those criteria proposed by Bao.

Language as semiosis: a neo-structuralist perspective in the light of pragmaticism

Abstract Presented is an analysis an analysis of language structure in the round incorporating the elements of Charles Sanders Peirce’s pragmaticism and his apothegm “My language is the sum total of myself” together with a program for reorienting linguistics in the twenty-first century. Postulated as a fundamental principle is the idea that the locus of linguistic reality is the act, the creative moment of speech – a moment made possible by the existing structure of language with its general rules but which transforms that structure, so that linguistic structure is itself always in flux, always being modified by acts of speech. Adduced in illustrative support are data and analyses drawn from the author’s blog (www.languagelore.net) and from his recent book, The speaking self: Language lore and English usage (2nd edn., 2017). Included in Appendices form are fundamental concepts of Peirce’s semeiotic as summarized from Max Fisch’s classical description.

English has Always Been Present: Transnational Youths Illustrating Language Dynamics in Zacatecas, Mexico

This paper aims at describing the impact of transnationalism on the reconfiguration of linguisticrepertoires of transnational people and how this is manifested in their discursive practices, their residing communities, and the geographical places they connect. Narratives from three participants are analyzed from the perspective of translanguaging theory (Wei, 2011, 2018b), which allows to capture moments of language creativity and criticality that are then linked to the transnational dimension of the participants, exemplifying how these elements interact with each other. Through participants’ flexible languaging and metalinguistic commentaries manifested in various domains of their daily lives, their creativity and criticality emerge as natural and significant features of their routine and bilingualism.

Psychological shocks and creative moments in psychotherapy

ABSTRACT Milton H. Erickson’s use of psychological shock is illustrated with five of his case histories with and without the use of hypnosis. The author outlines a number of principles for the safe and successful use of such shock therapy. Erickson’s concept of psychological shock is then integrated with the author’s views on the facilitating of creative moments as the essence of psychotherapy. A basic theoretical issue is discussed: Is hypnotherapy (and psychotherapy in general) to be concerned with the actual synthesis of new psychic structures or does it deal primarily with the creative reutilization of previous learnings?

Political Imperatives in the Heritage Regime and the Emergent Collaborative Scenarios on the Ground: Case Studies from the Baltics

Abstract This article studies the political imperatives initiated by the UNESCO-related normative instruments, and the emergent terms of engagement in the dynamics of collaborative participation, both on scholarly and community level. The authors share participatory experience and expertise in the field of intangible cultural heritage in policy-making and research, with particular interest in the aftermath of UNESCO ICH-labelling and list inscriptions. We reflect at first critically upon the progress and stance of decisions taken as well as the international discursive framework and debates where we have participated. We likewise contemplate the collaborative role of experts in the intangible heritage framework. In our comparative case study into the impact on local heritage processes in the Baltics, the post-nomination circumstance has generated novel community-driven and negotiated collaborative efforts. Both the Seto community in Estonia and the Suiti community in Latvia have found diverse ways of using heritage resources for their own goals, but also in their continued creative collaboration where a growing self-esteem proves to be a solid basis. This investigation links community participation to the issue of agency, and its creative capacity to constitute and reconstitute with a substantial effect of generating action. We have discerned various moments of empowerment and creativity in local responses to transformational social and economic processes. Our research results foreground the functional capacity of creative collaboration as agency of change, where innovation and right to hybridity become enabling qualities.

“What’s Real?”: Digital Technology and Negative Affect in Jennifer Egan’sLook at MeandThe Keep

AbstractThis article investigates the relationship between affect, digital technology, and neoliberalism in Jennifer Egan’s second and third novels: Look at Me (2001) and The Keep (2006). I argue that this relationship is central to Egan’s politicized (post-postmodern) understanding of the contemporary subject, whose feeling is overtly conditioned by the new media culture and technology as well as by the aspirational and elitist orientation of neoliberal discourse. Emphasizing these texts’ engagement with negative affects, including “cruel optimism” and shame, which dominate their narrative focalizations, I nevertheless consider how these feelings remain open to transformation in these novels, particularly in moments of critique, creativity, and interpersonal care.

POLYPHONIC GENRES IN PIANO CREATIVITY OF CHINESE COMPOSERS

Statement of the problem. The twentieth century marked an increased interest in polyphonic music. The geography of polyphonic works for piano expanded significantly and a creative development of many Chinese composers, writing polyphonic piano pieces, took place. Today, polyphonic pieces make up a significant part of the piano repertoire in China, but they are little studied by musicologists and performers. The objective of this study – to reveal the contribution of Chinese composers to the creation of polyphonic piano repertoire of the XX – early XXI century. Analysis of the research and publications on the theme. А large number of modern authors study polyphony from the point of physical and mathematical research methods (Igarashi, Yu. & Ito, Masashi & Ito, Akinori, 2013; Weiwei, Zhang & Zhe, Chen, & Fuliang, Yin, 2016; Li, Xiaoquan et al. others, 2018). This approach does not reveal the factual musical component of polyphonic genres. In the 20th century, musicologists explored polyphony in musical folklore (Wiant, 1936; Fan Zuyin, 2004; Li Hong, 2015) and in professional Chinese composing (Sun Wei-bo, 2006, Winzenburg, 2018). The scientific novelty. This article studies the role of Chinese composers in the development of the world polyphonic piano repertoire of the XX – early XXI century. The methodological basis for the analysis of polyphonic works was the theoretical concepts of P. Hindemith, Peng Cheng, Fang Zuin, Li Hong, Sun Wei-bo. The results of the study. The research outcomes demonstrate the evolutionary development of the genre diversity of Chinese piano polyphony as well as those composers who created magnificent musical pieces. Conclusions. Chinese composers have fully mastered the art of modern counterpoint, represented by the genres of polyphonic program pieces (He Lu Ting), invention (Xiao Shu Xian, Du Qian, Sun Yun Yin, Chen Chen Quang), polyphonic suite (Ma Gui), large polyphonic cycle ( He Shao, Chen Hua Do, Xiao Shu Xian), fugue (Li Jun Yong, Yu Su Yan, Chen Gang, Tian Lei Lei, Duan Ping Tai, Zheng Zhong, Xiao Shu Xian) and small cycle “Prelude and Fugue” (Ding Shan Te, Chen Zhi Ming, Wang Li Shan). Creatively assimilating and rethinking the experience of Western polyphonists, Chinese composers have filled their polyphonic works with national features, firmly linking them with the origins of Chinese traditional and folk music. The polyphonic way of transmitting musical material becomes the most expressive at the moments of profound creativity and musical dramatization.

Before the altar: a Kafkan study in analytic iconology

This article reads Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial in parallel with Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece (1512–16). It sets the novel within the context of the Grünewald revival in France and Germany during the first part of the twentieth century. The revival culminated in a wave of veneration that turned the altarpiece into a symbol of national suffering in the closing days of World War I. Against this background, the article argues for a connection between the intense focus on Christ’s “splayed hands” and the repertoire of manual gestures that Kafka scatters throughout his novel. Borrowing critical language from Bruno Latour and Joseph Koerner, the article argues that Kafka’s hands can be read as an iconoclastic analysis of Grünewald’s altarpiece. In the novel’s final scene, K.’s own splayed hands mark an attempt to turn himself into a living icon and transform his executioners into the iconoclastic breakers of his Christ-like image. The final section of the article uses this tableau as a means of rethinking current debates about the relationship between Christianity and secularism. Latour’s and Koerner’s work on iconoclash, the article suggests, makes Kafka’s image destruction a creative moment in a longer history of Christian iconoclasm.

Soundcloud Rap and Alien Creativity

In this paper I argue that the SoundCloud rap movement of the 2010s signalled not only a crisis of the rap-image (the specific ways in which rap had been traditionally represented and produced), but also a moment of intense aesthetic creativity and experimentation. Following Luciana Parisi’s notion of alien thinking and Kodwo Eshun’s work on Afrofuturism, I see the SoundCloud rap movement as exhibiting a type of alien creativity, existing outside the human but having real effects upon the human aesthetic experience. Through techniques such as Auto-Tune, mumbling, repetition, ad-libs, triplets, rappers were able to create a radically new aesthetic form that pushed the limits of digital music production and listening. I present SoundCloud rap tracks as virtualities of aesthetic origination, with rappers and producers playing with the alien, the unknown, the incomputable and the incomprehensible, which are provided to them via cybernetic technologies. These virtualities become ways of bringing forth the alien in the form of new syntaxes, new meanings, new aesthetics and new modes of being, pushing the bounds of rap and popular music.

Forest Wood through the Eyes of a Cultural Conservator

If prehistoric and historical time were placed into the time span of the existence of our universe, then the act of archaeology could be defined as the act of digging up what was only buried yesterday. So, conservation is about preserving a moment that has just become past time, yet significant. It is a moment of human creativity and ingenuity. It is not strange that forest wood has become the material to convey such moments. Forest wood is a living, everlasting source growing without human intervention, within reach, easy to use and shape thinking both great and small. It does not have to be a wooden ship; it can be a mere piece of charcoal. For it is what surrounded humans in the past which archaeologists seek and use to weave human history, and what conservators bring back to context by reviving it. This work presents forest wood as an artefact and its preservation challenges as such. It touches on its natural degradation processes through burial, compromised properties and eventual conservation. Both dry and waterlogged wood are included. The overarching aim of this paper is to pay tribute, preserve and inspire the long-standing, open dialog and fruitful collaboration between cultural conservators and forest and wood scientists.

The enchanted moments of place: Mythology, rituals and materiality at the saint Mariam Bawardy Shrine

ABSTRACT One of the major paradoxes embedded in religion is the complex dynamics between enchantment and disenchantment. This article takes a critical look at the theoretical implications of the political dynamics of enchantment by examining its stages in depth. We use the term ‘enchanted moments of place’ to challenge the use of the term ‘enchanted’ as a static historical or historiographical designation. It takes long-term ethnographic work at a recently emerging pilgrimage site in the north of Israel/Palestine commonly known as the Shrine of Mariam Bawardy, as an empirical point of departure to explore the dynamics of enchantment. We suggest an anthropological theory of enchantment that embraces an analysis of the ways time/place intermingles religious and everyday grassroots political dynamics. This perspective sheds light on the creation of sacred place during moments of renewed creativity, the reformulation of indigenous identities, the process of reinvented rituals, and the restoration and staging of material objects and place. Uncovering these moments can clarify the ways sacred places are politically voiced and spatialized by pilgrims, and appropriated by visitors and religious agents. Our analysis shows that these ‘enchanted moments’, places are more fragile and susceptible to changes caused by macro- and micro- political shifts. Enchanted moments are more sensitive to local decision-making processes, creativity, contingencies and rivalry among native agents and their aspirations for place and territoriality.

MERIA – Conflict Lines: Experience with Two Innovative Teaching Materials

The design of inquiry-based tasks and problem situations for daily mathematics teaching is still a challenge. In this article, we study the implementation of two tasks as part of didactic scenarios for inquiry-based mathematics teaching, examining teachers’ classroom orchestration supported by these scenarios. The context of the study is the Erasmus+ project MERIA – Mathematics Education: Relevant, Interesting and Applicable, which aims to encourage learning activities that are meaningful and inspiring for students by promoting the reinvention of target mathematical concepts. As innovative teaching materials for mathematics education in secondary schools, MERIA scenarios cover specific curriculum topics and were created based on two well-founded theories in mathematics education: realistic mathematics education and the theory of didactical situations. With the common name Conflict Lines (Conflict Lines – Introduction and Conflict Set – Parabola), the scenarios aim to support students’ inquiry about sets in the plane that are equidistant from given geometrical figures: a perpendicular bisector as a line equidistant from two points, and a parabola as a curve equidistant from a point and a line. We examine the results from field trials in the classroom regarding students’ formulation and validation of the new knowledge, and we describe the rich situations teachers may face that encourage them to proceed by building on students’ work. This is a crucial and creative moment for the teacher, creating opportunities and moving between students’ discoveries and the intended target knowledge.

Statistical Properties of Musical Creativity: Roles of Hierarchy and Uncertainty in Statistical Learning.

Creativity is part of human nature and is commonly understood as a phenomenon whereby something original and worthwhile is formed. Owing to this ability, humans can produce innovative information that often facilitates growth in our society. Creativity also contributes to esthetic and artistic productions, such as music and art. However, the mechanism by which creativity emerges in the brain remains debatable. Recently, a growing body of evidence has suggested that statistical learning contributes to creativity. Statistical learning is an innate and implicit function of the human brain and is considered essential for brain development. Through statistical learning, humans can produce and comprehend structured information, such as music. It is thought that creativity is linked to acquired knowledge, but so-called “eureka” moments often occur unexpectedly under subconscious conditions, without the intention to use the acquired knowledge. Given that a creative moment is intrinsically implicit, we postulate that some types of creativity can be linked to implicit statistical knowledge in the brain. This article reviews neural and computational studies on how creativity emerges within the framework of statistical learning in the brain (i.e., statistical creativity). Here, we propose a hierarchical model of statistical learning: statistically chunking into a unit (hereafter and shallow statistical learning) and combining several units (hereafter and deep statistical learning). We suggest that deep statistical learning contributes dominantly to statistical creativity in music. Furthermore, the temporal dynamics of perceptual uncertainty can be another potential causal factor in statistical creativity. Considering that statistical learning is fundamental to brain development, we also discuss how typical versus atypical brain development modulates hierarchical statistical learning and statistical creativity. We believe that this review will shed light on the key roles of statistical learning in musical creativity and facilitate further investigation of how creativity emerges in the brain.

Covid-19 e as decisões governamentais no retorno presencial de uma rede privada de ensino do DF: um relato da equipe de psicologia escolar

O artigo problematiza o retorno presencial de alunos da Educação Infantil e Ensino Fundamental I, de uma rede privada de ensino, em meio à pandemia da Covid-19. Analisou-se as ações amparadas pelo governo do Distrito Federal e a realidade das famílias de uma escola particular, buscando identificar os fatores que influenciaram o posicionamento dos responsáveis, no sentido de permitir o retorno de seus filhos à frequência presencial. A investigação metodológica foi por meio do relato de experiência, comparando-se as análises de questionários de satisfação enviados às famílias sobre as aulas on-line e pesquisas diretas, com o único intuito de conhecer o quantitativo das famílias com interesse no retorno presencial, e associando essas análises aos diferentes decretos publicados no DODF. Concomitantemente, há o respaldo bibliográfico em relação ao cenário escolar, apresentando, dessa forma, outras experiências vivenciadas durante a pandemia. Após análise, a discussão seguiu uma linha cronológica de pensamento, em um primeiro momento debatendo sobre a educação a distância, trazendo seus vários desafios, tanto da perspectiva bibliográfica como da perspectiva da Equipe de Psicologia da escola em questão. Em um segundo momento discutiu-se sobre a mudança de perspectiva dos responsáveis, em relação ao retorno presencial, com as decisões governamentais do momento, apesar da ascensão dos casos de Covid-19, na média móvel. Conclui-se que a pandemia da Covid-19 determinou, de algum modo, um momento de resiliência e criatividade dos professores, ao mesmo tempo que provocou desgaste emocional na comunidade escolar, refletindo-se também, sobre as desigualdades sociais entre escolas públicas e particulares.

Bird and Line

"Bird and Line" is an artistic inquiry into the relationship between a deep state of artistic consciousness and the act of drawing a line to arrive at the form of a bird. This inquiry further proposes that by using line as a mode of research, the artist begins to perceive the consciousness of a bird and the relationship it shares with its form. For me, the embodied and porous experiences of watching and knowing birds through the practice of working with "line" as an artistic element allow for an intimacy of experiencing and an unfolding of intersubjectivity. Artistic inquiry also acts as an investigation into self-awareness and self-realization in this space of making eco-art. These acts of being lead me into reflections on how perception and creativity are melded together during creative moments to allow for a porous consciousness to emerge and perform the act of drawing a bird. As an artist working with text, movement, and image, I embed questions on the ethics of creativity into how we evolve our lines of art, as well as encounter other beings. By unraveling the relationship between the inner and the outer through Indian aesthetic philosophy, I evolve methods for eco-art practice using line as an element. I emphasize the importance of artistic research with a framework of Indian aesthetics as a way of deepening our perception and relationships with the natural world. This article is written to make artistic processes visible through a reflective auto-ethnographic approach. I write in a non-linear reflective narrative to comprehend cultural ontologies that drive my practice, unfolding internal thought processes, directions of research, and moments of mystical experience.

Language and laughter in the treatise of Philo of Alexandria The worse attacks the better

The present paper investigates the interaction between Logos and language in the treatise of Philo of Alexandria "The Worse attacks the Better". Language is regarded by Philo as the actualization of thought in its articulated expression, as the initial moment of creativity. The source of such action is the divine Logos, but the development of thought in the word happens in two opposite directions: one leads to joy, while the other, to suffering. The starting point of this separation is the initial orientation (love) of the mind to God or to self. In the first case, the mind in the act of utterance (expression) overcomes its own isolation. It comes into contact with the divine Logos and achieves joy. The crucial moment of this "leaving the brackets" of self individual thinking towards the light of the divine Logos is laughter. In another case, when the mind does not link words with their source, false creativity is produced, leading to suffering. Аpplying the concept of laughter to the doctrine of Logos and language, Philo reconciles the ideal plan of conceiving truth and its interpretation with the real functioning of the human mind and speech.