DANGER! Essays and Conversations About Creative Participation in Life

This book argues that the reason to study creativity is because it is always dangerous as the current moment in history attests. Building on the findings of the previous volumes in the Creativity in Practice series, DANGER! examines how those findings apply to many aspects of life. This collection of provocative essays and conversations with other leading researchers calls into question common assumptions about creativity and challenges us to change how we think about change.

Each chapter tackles this topic from an unusual perspective, such as insights into the idea of potential from the context of dementia; the extraordinary roles of serendipity in constructing our local creative eco-systems; how the concept of creativity can be used to colonize the future and cut us off from today’s resources; the lessons of science fiction about the dynamics among imagination, reality, and audiences; the importance of “touching grass” through human interactions as artificial intelligence changes education; and more. Drawing from the previous books in the series, each chapter also brings in the ideas and works of people like Gregory Bateson, Howard Gruber, Keith Johnstone, Pierre Bourdieu, and Tyler, The Creator.

Scholars, Educators, and anyone interested in creativity in the context of education will find this book an important contribution to the conversation surrounding the promises, benefits, and dangers of creative work.