Public Talk on Imagination

The second public talk in the Creativity and Innovation Lecture Series, hosted by the Webster Center of Creativity and Innovation (WCCI), was offered by Prof. Tania Zittoun, from the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, on the 25th of January, at Webster Geneva Campus.

This event included the launch of the Handbook of Imagination and Culture, published in 2018 by Oxford University Press, and co-edited by Tania Zittoun and Vlad Glăveanu. The two editors discussed the Handbook, the context in which it came about as well as its contents, and made the argument that imagination can only be understood and studied in its relation to human culture.

Prof. Zittoun presented a sociocultural account of imagination that places it at the core of human and cultural development. Her talk highlighted the numerous links between imagination, recollections of the past, generalized meanings, anticipation, and the construction of possible futures. Prof. Zittoun discussed the loop model of imagination and exemplified its usefulness in relation to a series of everyday contexts and activities. This public lecture emphasized the foundational role played by the imagination in the lifecourse, from early childhood to maturity and old age, and in society, as the driving force behind creativity, innovation, and social change.