Imagination allows individuals and groups to think beyond the here-and-now, to envisage alternatives, to create parallel worlds, and to mentally travel through time. Imagination is both extremely personal (for example, people imagine unique futures for themselves) and deeply social, as our imagination is fed with media and other shared representations.As a result, imagination occupies a central position within the life of mind and society. Expanding the boundaries of disciplinary approaches, the Handbook of Imagination and Culture expertly illustrates this core role of imagination in the development of children, adolescents, adults, and older persons today.Bringing together leading scholars in sociocultural psychology and neighboring disciplines from around the world, this edited volume guides readers towards a much deeper understanding of the conditions of imagining, its resources, its constraints, and the consequences it has on different groups of people in different domains of society. Summarily, this Handbook places imagination at the center, and offers readers new ways to examine old questions regarding the possibility of change, development, and innovation in modern society.

1. Imagination at the Frontiers of Cultural PsychologyTania Zittoun and Vlad Gl?veanuSECTION I: CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL CLARIFICATIONS2. The Philosophy of ImaginationDorthe J?rgensen3. Roots of Creativity: Variability Amplification through Persistent ImitationJaan Valsiner4. Creative ImaginationVlad Petre Gl?veanu , Maciej Karwowski, Dorota M. Jankowska, and Constance de Saint-Laurent5. Imagination - Methodological ImplicationsLene Tanggaard and Svend BrinkmannSECTION II: IMAGINATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT6. Imagination in Children Entering CultureSandra Jovchelovitch, Jacqueline Priego-Hernandez, and Vlad Petre Gl?veanu7. Playing and Being - Imagination in the Life CoursePernille Hviid and Jacob W. Villadsen8. The Mnemonic Imagination and Second-Generation Migrant ExperienceMichael Pickering and Emily Keightley9. Imagination in Adults and the Aging Person: Possible Futures and Actual PastTania Zittoun and Tatsuya SatoSECTION III: FRAMES FOR IMAGINATION10. Imagination In and Beyond EducationSanne Akkerman11. Theatre and Imagination to (Re)Discover RealityTania Zittoun and Adeline Rosenstein12. Music and ImaginationSven Hroar KlempeSECTION IV: IMAGINATION IN SOCIETY, FROM PAST TO FUTURE13. Imagination in Community EngagementColette Daiute14. Imagining the Self through Cultural TechnologiesAlex Gillespie, Kevin Corti, Simon Evans and Brett Heasman15. From Imagination to Well-Controlled Images: Challenge for the Dialogical MindIvana Markov?CONCLUSION16. The Future of Imagination in Sociocultural ResearchVlad Gl?veanu and Tania Zittoun