Social action and creative writing: a productive binomial

Abstract

The bahá’í concept of social action is based on the conviction that material and spiritual development should go hand in hand in order to achieve a holistic progress, bearing in mind that the concept of spirituality is also redefined in the light of its teachings. Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, states: “The purpose of knowledge should be the promotion of people’s wellbeing and this can be attained through arts”. As the generation of knowledge and capacity is another of the pillars sustaining social action projects developed by the Bahá’í community, the role of arts is acquiring more relevance in this sphere. The present article analyzes a practical case of service-learning carried out at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in which, by joining this concept of social action with creative writing, it provides evidence that art can be nourished by social action processes and vice versa.