Forever Feeding Forward

People develop over time, in ways unpredictable for themselves and for others. However, they have also unique ways of doing so: they have styles of looking for newness and dealing with it, solving difficulties or being carried away when things go well, and specific motives, which, like signature, mark their ways. Jaan Valsiner, like everyone, has such a melody of living – a unique way of moving in time and space, across countries and worlds of ideas (Zittoun et al. Human development in the lifecourse. Cambridge University Press, Melodies of living, 2013). He does not develop a linear theoretical project; he pursues too many interests, too deeply, to progress in one direction only. Even though these interests grow according to their own logic, they eventually become part of an ever-evolving whole, thanks to Jaan Valsiner’s formidable integrative capacities.