Interactional theory as a keystone of learning in action, creativity, innovation, and democracy

ABSTRACT

This reflexive practice article is about how we, the authors, have put Kenneth P. Wilkinson’s theories into use in our Community and Economic Development practice, particularly the interactional theory of community. It is our aim to discuss ways this theory has shaped how we view and work with communities in the hopes of supporting a purposive, reflexive, and democratic practice that fosters innovation, creativity, and learning, with the ultimate intention of supporting community members and communities in their journeys to improve their own collective well-being. In this article, we briefly discuss ways that interactional theory has been most useful in shaping our scholar-practitioner-educator’s mind-set, how our observations from dozens of communities have nuanced our understanding of interactional theory, and how we see the theory being applied in the future given our rapidly changing and unpredictable world.

KEYWORDS:

• Reflexive practice
• community innovation
• democracy
• interaction field theory
• learning in action

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The first five categories can be found in the original. The inclusion on a sixth phase on maintaining power dynamics is our own addition.

2. Thanks to an anonymous reviewer for raising the issue that the use of data is itself a framing, and that data can take the form of stories. While it is possible to tell or portray great stories from data, we make reference to the reductionist position that “hard data” that is quantifiable and/or measurable is more rigorous and thus superlative to “narrative”

3. Well-regarded common values may even be considered community assets – see Kretzmann and McKnight (1996) for an assets-based approach to community development.

4. Thanks to an anonymous reviewer for raising Graeber and Wengrow’s (2021) point that many older societies from Native Americans to the French philosophes exercised leadership through rhetoric and persuasion rather than coercion, and possessing such skills increased one’s fitness to be a leader in the first place.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture [Project #PEN04698 and Accession #1014522].