This introductory chapter opens thefield of education in a culturaldevelopmental perspective and explains how and why learning and development canbe considered as cultural processes. It discusses the way the tensioned dialogues andcreative constructions between education and culture are conceptualized in this bookand outlines the guiding question for this volume: when and how does an educationalintrusion produce a constructive surplus of individual and collective creativity, andwhen do educational contributions create unconstructive or even destructive tensionsfor the single individual and/or for the community? The introduction also provides anoverview of the main themes discussed in each chapter.