Abstract
M.Ed.
The purpose of this study was to explore whether the development of exceptional
creativity could be linked to transformative learning. Although the theory of
transformative learning, as defined by Mezirow in 1978 from his study of women
returning to college, has stimulated much discussion in the field of adult education, a
review of the literature on transformative learning and the study of creativity revealed
no descriptions of transformative learning linked to the development of creativity in
an adult.
Mezirow claims that our experiences do not have meanings in themselves, but that
we bring to our experiences an accumulation of past experiences, knowledge and
learning. The meanings we make out of our experiences are thus socially constructed
and context-dependant. This study explored whether the "meaning-making" of
experience, and the way in which it is construed, validated and reformulated, could be
linked to the development of exceptional creativity.
A qualitative design was used utilizing an interpretive case study as research format.
The case, an African designer was selected purposefully on the basis of two criteria:
she is· exceptionally creative and her life has been characterized by major transitions.
A series of in-depth interviews were conducted with the case as the method of data
collection. The interviews focused on the case's life-story, and aimed at establishing
whether her life-story could be linked to phases of "meaning becoming clarified," and
whether transformative learning may have occurred in her creative development. The
data was analysed using the constant comparative method of data collection.
A main finding emerged from the data. The phases of transformation were set off by
more than one disorienting dilemma which had its roots in the changing sociopolitical
context of South Africa. As speculated, the development trajectory of the
case's creativity can be linked to transformative learning. From the data it is evident
that the development of exceptional creativity is intertwined with the phases of
transformative learning and that both processes share numerous commonalities,
compati~ilities and blurred boundaries.
Although it must be kept in mind that this investigation was based on a single case,
the study indeed demonstrated that there is a relationship between transfonnative
learning and the development trajectory of exceptional creativity in an adult.
Furthermore, if creativity is to be viewed as a multidimensional construct, and
creative accomplishment as representing the interaction or confluence among these
dimensions, then the development of exceptional creativity in this particular case can
be seen as an expression of transfonnative learning.
The finding not only provides a description of the development of exceptional
creativity linked to transfonnative learning, but also reveals the significance of
transfonnative learning as a process for the study of creativity in which creativity can
be seen as an expression of the transfonnative learning process.