Description
The imagination is at the heart of what it means to be human. Yet, while International Relations (IR) researchers mobilise the term rhetorically, it remains under-conceptualised in the field and disconnected from compelling cross-disciplinary literatures. This paper charts the transformative implications of state-of-the-art research on the imagination for peacebuilding practices, emphasising the way interrelationships between self and society established in imaginative play cascade down through individual interpretation and shared practices to undergird social formations. We highlight the ground-breaking work of Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) and his contemporary adaption in Cultural Historical Activity Theory as one compelling resource for thinking through the imagination’s significance for overcoming deep-seated conflict. In doing so, we connect the imagination’s role in creativity, play and storytelling to contemporary research on relational peacebuilding that focuses on the impact of art, music, dance, drama, narrative and other creative activities, deepening their conceptual basis and indicating the potential for further advances.
