Tapping Into the Creative Act to Advance Equity and Justice: Eisner and the Creative Imperative

• In Event: Eisnerian Inquiry

Abstract

This theoretical piece uses a general education creative writing class as the springboard to situate Elliot Eisner and John Dewey to advance an argument for the creative imperative. This analysis employs the critical lenses of Mikhail Bakhtin, Gilles Deleuze, and Felix Guattari, to show the way a creative act, in this case fiction, can push against normative practices which have resulted in pervasive injustice. This essay emphasizes the importance of the creative voice while affirming the constructivist approach, including Eisner’s recognition that “[w]e make our experience, not simply have it.” This piece captures the importance of creativity as a way for students to understand who they are and how they should act in community, which affirms the importance of citizen-scholarship.

Author

• Alan Scott Tinkler, Missouri State University