The Creativity Suite. Episode 146: Think in Plural
Interview with Professor Pamela Burnard, Professor of Arts, Creativities and Educations (ACE) at the University of Cambridge.
Here is perhaps one of the easiest ways of having a more open mindset around an issue: Think in plural.
Instead of “creativity” think of “creativities”, because there is not “one” creativity, there are multiple creativities. Artistic creativity, logical creativity, collective creativity, rhythmic creativity and on and on and on. So thinking of “creativities” makes you appreciate the many different kinds of creative expression that we have.
I was inspired to think about the multitude of creativities by Professor Pamela Burnard at the University of Cambridge. Pamela is a Professor of Arts, Creativities and Educations (ACE) and has dedicated a big portion of her life to helping people become more creative.
By thinking of “creativities” instead of just “creativity” we instantly see a broader spectrum of what humans can create.
But the interesting thing is that thinking in plural works for many areas..
Like when we stopped thinking of “intelligence” as one thing and instead started to think of “intelligences”. (and perhaps we should not talk about “artificial intelligence” either, but “artificial intelligences”…)
Or when people started to think of “knowledges” instead of just “knowledge” to acknowledge the wide range of knowledges that people from different cultures can have about a subject.
According to Professor Pam (as she is affectionately referred to by her students) this is how you can practise the technique of thinking in plurals:
1) Add the plural to the topic you are working on.
For example: Think of “freedom” and how it changes when we think of “freedoms”.
Or, think of “fashion” and how it changes when we think of “fashions”.
2) Then ask yourself: What happens when we pluralise it?
(How does “gardening” change when we think of it as “gardenings”, when we think of not one garden, but of many different gardens. The garden for the micro-organisms, the garden for the worms, the garden for the humans and the garden for the birds etc.)
3) Finally reflect on how the changes you notice in your thinking can create new insights.
When you hear the word “inclusion” you think of certain things, but if you turn that into “inclusions” you automatically start to reflect on the need to think of a multitude of different ways of creating cultures of inclusion.
Professor Pamela shared how Cambridge University is one of the world’s most fertile grounds for pluralistic thinking where people from all parts of the world and with expertise from all kinds of fields come together in an environment that fosters, encourages and inspires the exchange of ideas.
She told me of one group of Chinese students who had come for a summer course and been immersed into the Cambridge mindset of pluralistic thinking and how their minds had, in the words of Professor Pamela, “exploded” with the different perspectives and freedoms they had been exposed to.
Professor Pamela Burnard, who is at the moment writing a book on “The Power of Pluralising Creativities” is passionate about giving people the gift of thinking in plural. Her own creativities range from playing in a band, teaching creativity, doing poetry slam and many other ways of creative expression.
To pluralise a topic is a simple way of making the mind think in a more open, diverse and flexible way.
Basically it gives you multiple minds to think with.
03
Jan