Radical Imagination and Critical Creativity
摘要
Creativity is an essential twenty-first century skill, necessary for leading change amidst social and economic challenges in our rapidly evolving contexts. Yet, uncritical creativity and innovation (i.e., creativity and innovation not underpinned by critical ideologies) are more likely to replicate intersectional systems of oppression in novel iterations than to interrupt or transform these systems. Leaders cannot use existing tools (i.e., ideologies, logics, and technologies; e.g., strategies, policies, pedagogies, and practices), which have been created and shaped by dominant, intersectional systems of oppression, to engender liberation from these very systems. Therefore, critical creativity, which is creativity catalyzed toward advancing social and ecological justice to engender mutual flourishing, is a necessary skill for leaders who seek liberatory change. Underpinning the concept of critical creativity is the assumption that creativity is not a neutral endeavor, but rather that systems of oppression are creatively constructed and sustained and, therefore, can be creatively dismantled and reimagined. Critical creativity, together with radical imagination, can become a praxis for designing blueprints, innovating tools, and leading coalitions who can disrupt systemic oppression to steward liberatory transformation.