Kiji,kichi,jizhi : Resourceful creativity as vernacular universals of technoscience

Abstract

Kiji, kichi, and jizhi are the Korean, Japanese, and Chinese transliterations of the same classical Chinese term, 機智, which we translate here as “resourceful creativity.” We explore the concept of resourceful creativity, which we deem as important in all technoscientific practice, formal and vernacular. We believe that thinking through various vernacular practices of resourceful creativity, in particular, is one way to move beyond the inadequate binaries stemming from the West and the Rest, and converge with growing efforts to reevaluate the dominant narratives that celebrate innovation, productivity, growth, and efficiency in their narrow senses.