Abstract
Frequently identified as collectivistic or inter-dependent in the mainstream, Indian society has long been known for dense social dynamics and interpersonal closeness among people, particularly within the context of the family. Although one could dispute simple categorizations, there is no denying that people are dominantly allocentric, even while discussing the self. Much importance is placed on the other person/s and individualism is still frowned upon despite crucial changes in contemporary urban Indian society. How does the process of creativity, which is commonly understood as an individual attribute, become constructed in such a cultural presentation of relationships among people? Much work has been done in this field and this chapter attempts to integrate the research on creativity to examine creative processes and products in the vast canvas of Indian art, craft and music. During this exploration, the construct of creativity as a separate construct itself comes up against criticism.
“The singer alone does not make a song, there has to be someone who hears.”
Broken Song (http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/317418-the-singer-alone-does-not-make-a-song-there-has)
Rabindranath Tagore
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Traditional schools in Hindu India.
- 2.
A traditional folk art form.
- 3.
The award-winning artist, Satyanarayan.
- 4.
- 5.
References
Anandalakshmy, S. (2014). Introspections of culture: Updating the perspectives. In N. Chaudhary, S. Anandalakshmy, & J. Valsiner (Eds.), Cultural realities of being: Abstract ideas within everyday lives (pp. 13–22). New York: Routledge.
Anderson, B. (1983/2006). Imagined communities. London: Verso.
Badheka, G. (1932/1990). Divaswapna. (English Translation). New Delhi: National Book Trust.
Barron, F. (1968). Creativity and personal freedom. Princeton: Van Nostrand.
Bhatta, C. P. (2008). The making of a creative poet: Insights from Indian aestheticians. In K. R. Rao, A. C. Paranjpe, & A. K. Dalal (Eds.), Handbook of Indian psychology (pp. 383–389). New Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
Bhawuk, D. P. S. (2003). Culture’s influence on creativity: The case of Indian spirituality. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 27(1), 1–22.
Brock, A. C. (2014). Psychology in the modern sense. Theory & Psychology, 24(4), 717–722.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity. In R. J.Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 313–335). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Chaudhary, N. (2004). Listening to culture: Constructing reality in everyday life. New Delhi: Sage.
Danziger, K. (1997). Naming the mind: How psychology found its language. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
De Bono, E. (1985). Six thinking hats. New York: Little Brown & Co..
Desai, R. (2013). Raja Ravi Varma. (trans: Pande, V.). New Delhi: Harper Perennial. (Original work published 1993)
Erikson, E. H. (1993). Gandhi’s truth: The origins of militant non-violence. New York: W. W. Norton & Co..
Gardner, H. (1993). Creating minds: An anatomy of creativity seen through the lives of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Elliot, Graham and Gandhi. New York: Basic books.
Gardner, H. (2001). Creators: Multiple intelligences. In K. H. Pfenninger & V. R. Shubik (Eds.), The origins of creativity (pp. 117–143). New York: Oxford University Press.
Guilford, J. P. (1959). Creativity and its cultivation. New York: Harper & Row.
Hampden-Turner, C. (1981). Maps of the mind. London: Mitchell Beazley.
Harrington, D. M. (1999). Conditions and settings/environment. In M. A. Runco & S. R. Pritzger (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of creativity (Vol. 1, pp. 323–340). New York: Academic Press.
Henrich, J., Heine, H. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 61–83.
Kakar, S. (2013). Young Tagore: The making of a genius. New Delhi: Penguin Viking.
Koestler, A. (1976). The act of creation. New York: Macmillan.
Kumar, K. (1932/1990). Preface. In G. Badheka. Divaswapna. (English Translation). New Delhi: National Book Trust.
Lubart, T. L. (1999). Creativity across cultures. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 339–350). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Macaulay, T. B. (1835). Minutes of Honourable T. B. Macaulay, 2nd February, 1835. Accessed from http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/history/primarydocs/education/Macaulay001.htm on 29th October, 2015.
Misra, G., Srivastava, A. K., & Misra, I. (2006). Culture and facets of creativity: The Indian experience. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The international handbook of creativity (pp. 421–455). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Moghaddam, F. (2010). Intersubjectivity, interobjectivity and the embryonic fallacy in developmental science. Culture and Psychology, 16(4), 465–475.
Nair Vasudevan, M. T. (2010). Bear with me, mother: Memoirs and stories. New Delhi: Viva Books Private Limited.
Niu, W., & Sternberg, R. (2002). Contemporary studies on the concept of creativity: The East and the West. Journal of Creative Behaviour, 36(4), 269–288.
Nisbett, R. (2003). The geography of thought: How Asians and Westerners think differently….and why. New York: NY: Free Press.
Oglivy, J. (1977). Many dimensional man: Decentralizing self, society and the sacred. New York: Oxford University Press.
Raina, M. K. (1996). Talent search in the third world: The phenomenon of calculated ambiguity. New Delhi: Vikas.
Raina, M. K. (1999). Cross-cultural differences. In M. A. Runco & S. R. Pritzger (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of creativity (Vol. 1, pp. 453–464). New York: Academic Press.
Ramanujan, A. K. (1989). Is there an Indian way of thinking? Contributions to Indian Sociology, 23(1), 41–58.
Ramanujan, A. K. (1991). Folktales from India: A selection of oral tales from twenty-two languages. New York: Pantheon.
Sen, R., & Sharma, N. (2009). Teacher preparation for creative teaching. Education Dialogue, 6(2), 157–192.
Sen, R., & Sharma, N. (2011). Through multiple lenses: Implicit theories of creativity among children and adults. Journal of Creative Behaviour., 45(4), 273–302.
Sen, R. & Sharma, N. (2013). The familial context of creativity: Patterns of nurturance in families of creative children. Psychological Studies. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12646-013-0221-y
Shivakumaraswamy, S. (1989). Concept of Pratibha: Studies in Alamkarasastra, Pratibha. Mysore: Geetha Book House.
Sri Aurobindo. (1950). Ideal of human unity. Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Srivastava, A. K., & Misra, G. (2001). Exploration in literary creativity: Some preliminary observations. Psychological Studies, 46(3), 148–161.
Torrance, E. P. (1962). Guiding creative talent. New York: Prentice-Hall.
Valsiner, J. (2007). Constructing the internal infinity: Dialogic structure of the internalization/externalization process – A commentary on Susswein, Bibok, and Carpendale’s “reconceptualizing internalization”. International Journal for Dialogical Science, 2(1), 207–221.
Valsiner, J. (2014). An Invitation to Cultural Psychology. London: Sage.
Verma, S., & Sharma, D. (2003). Cultural continuity amid social change: Adolescents’ use of free time in India. In S. Verma & R. W. Larson (Eds.), Examining adolescent leisure time across cultures (pp. 37–51). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chaudhary, N., Pillai, P. (2016). Creativity and Indian Culture. In: Glăveanu, V. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Creativity and Culture Research. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46344-9_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46344-9_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-46343-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-46344-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)