An exploration of the tension between tradition and innovation

Abstract

Through an exploration of the tension between tradition and innovation, this chapter hopes to offer a new positionality that might benefit those who have an interest in creativity or culture in their line of work. Tradition is defined through a consideration of folk culture’s notion of tradition in extremis and innovation by way of a personological understanding of creativity, again in extremis. The exploration takes place within a framework expounded by folklorist Bausinger in “Folk culture in a world of technology” (Bausinger, Folkskultur in der technischen Welt, W. Kohlhammer GmbH, 1961). By revisiting his concepts, and utilizing his notions of spatial expansion, temporal expansion, and social expansion as lenses, I reconsider folk culture, and the relationships it has with multidimensional topological theories of creativity in a world of digital technology. The chapter’s proposed positionality suggests that by connecting with or knowing the past and our cultural traditions, we can engage in a more personally and socially meaningful creative practice in the digital world. A secondary aim is to reflect upon how this standpoint promotes identity formation and broader social cohesion. And, finally, how it might in itself represent a folk realpolitik.