Bringing the Everyday Into the Culture / Creativity Discourse

   Nancy Ettlinger

   Ohio State University 

This  article  critiques  and  offers  an  alternative conceptualization  of  ‘culture’  and  ‘creativity’  using an actor-based and relational epistemology.  ‘Culture’ and  ‘creativity’  have  been  socially  constructed  in scale-specific  terms  that  overlook  everyday  practices that can diverge from dominant patterns and suggest hopeful  possibilities,  which  ironically  are  lost  in many  Left-leaning  narratives.  Hopeful  possibilities are  traceable  analytically  to  circuits  of material  and discursive value, which are inextricably related but can entail different trajectories across scales. Tracing these trajectories requires analytical attention to microscale activity, that  is,  to  individual  actors’ material  practices, which produce mutable, discursive and material value at multiple scales.