Workshop: Narrative, Imagination, and Well-Being

In the age of AI technologies, human-made climate change, and the rise of autocratic systems, we urgently need novel solutions to the erosion of our epistemic values and practices, the radical, irreversible changes to our environments, and the threats to our democratic societies. These solutions cannot be developed without imagination, the ability to envision the future and to connect the known to the yet-unknown. We often imagine through narration. By developing, challenging, and transforming narrative modes of imagining, we can discover novel ways of thinking about solutions to pressing problems and challenges. In turn, practices of narrative imagination have strong implications for our well-being, individually and collectively. These practices can help overcome feelings of lacking agency and autonomy in a complex and increasingly opaque world. Yet, the connections between narrative, imagination, and well-being remain currently understudied. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together researchers from history, ethnography, philosophy, and creative practice to facilitate an interdisciplinary discourse about narrative and imagination and their impact on individual and collective well-being. Speakers: Tanya Evans (Macquarie University), Tiffany Hambley (Macquarie University), Karen Pearlman (Macquarie University), Louise Richardson-Self (University of Tasmania), and Kate Rossmanith (Macquarie University). Organiser: Regina Fabry (Macquarie University). Website: https://sites.google.com/view/narrative-imagination