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Semiotic Dimensions of Creativity

Bibliographic Data

ID2295502
AuthorsE Wilf (0000-0003-0975-2826, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume43
Issue1
Pages397-412
Publication date2014-10-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnnual Review of Anthropology (BOOK_SERIES)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0084-6570 • E-ISSN: 1545-4290
PublisherAnnual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1146/annurev-anthro-102313-030020
OpenAlexW2136614702
LanguageEN
Citations received41
References cited125

Recurrent, most recently Romantic, ideologies conceptualize creativity as the solitary, ex nihilo creation of products of self-evident and universal value-most emblematically in the field of art-by highly exceptional individuals. Such ideologies obscure the social dimensions of creativity that come into view via anthropological analysis: (a) the nature and ubiquity of creative processes as communicative and improvisational events, with real-time emergent properties, involving human and nonhuman agents in the context of pre-existing yet malleable genres and constraints; (b) the role of socialization in the making of creative individuals, implicating processes of social reproduction; and (c) the processes by which certain objects and individuals are recognized and constructed as exemplars of creativity and thus acquire their value. This review discusses these dimensions by synthesizing cultural and linguistic/semiotic anthropological research. It concludes by addressing the recent transformation of creativity into the neoliberal philosopher's stone and the potential contribution of anthropology to the demystification of this transformation

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Creativity · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Ideology · Improvisation · Semiotics · Social science · Socialization · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Visual arts · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology · Semiotics and Representation Studies · Social Psychology

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Unique citing works41
Citations per year3,73
Citation span2015 - 2026 (12)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 40
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