On Public Imagination: A Political and Ethical Imperative

147 Pages·2020·4.491 MB·English

by  Victor Faessel, Richard Falk, Michael Curtin

“Richard Falk, Victor Faessel and Michael Curtin have brought together a diverse set of
authors for an in-depth examination of the importance of public imagination. This is a much-
needed angle into the larger debate about the decay of liberal democracy.”
— Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, author of Expulsions
“Confronting today’s public challenges demands reason and benefits from a sense of history—
but neither is a substitute for imagination. We need imagination both to understand what is
going on and to decide how to respond. Without imagination our public debates are inanimate
and our politics mere power struggles. This book brings 30 exciting perspectives on how to
renew public imagination.”
— Craig Calhoun, University Professor of Social Sciences, Arizona State University
“Facing mounting global problems ranging from climate change to widening social inequality,
our 21st-century world is in desperate need of collective action based on a pluralistic public
imagination. This highly readable anthology presents the concise and innovative views of
dozens of influential intellectuals on the critical role of an ethical imagination that cut across
political, economic, and cultural divides. Highly recommended!”
— Manfred B. Steger, Professor of Sociology, University of Hawai‘i-Mānoa and
Global Professorial Fellow, Western Sydney University

ON PUBLIC IMAGINATION
In this wide-ranging and multidisciplinary volume, leading scholars, activists, journalists, and
public figures deliberate about the creative and critical potential of public imagination in an era
paradoxically marked by intensifying globalization and resurgent nationalism. Divided into five
sections, these chapters explore the social, political, and cultural role of imagination and civic
engagement, offering cogent, ingenious reflections that stand in stark contrast to the often grim
rhetoric of our era. Short and succinct, the chapters engage with an interconnected ensemble
of themes and issues while also providing insights into the specific geographical and social
dynamics of each author’s national or regional context.
(cid:129) Part 1 introduces the reader to theoretical reflections on imagination and the public
sphere;
(cid:129) Part 2 illustrates dynamics of public imagination in a diverse set of cultural contexts;
(cid:129) Part 3 reflects in various ways on the urgent need for a radically transformed public and
civic imagination in the face of worldwide ecological crisis;
(cid:129) Part 4 suggests new societal possibilities that are related to spiritual as well as politically
revolutionary sources of inspiration;
(cid:129) Part 5 explores characteristics of present and potentially emerging global society and the
existing transnational framework that could provide resources for a more humane global
order.
Erudite and thought-provoking, On Public Imagination makes a vital contribution to political
thought, and is accessible to activists, students, and scholars alike.
Victor Faessel is Associate Director of the Mellichamp Initiative on 21st Century Global
Dynamics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is co-editor (with Richard Falk
and Manoranjan Mohanty) of Exploring Emergent Global Thresholds: Towards 2030 (2017), and is
managing editor of The Oxford Handbook of Global Studies (2018, Mark Juergensmeyer, Saskia
Sassen, and Manfred Steger, eds.) as well as the four-volume Encyclopedia of Global Studies
(2012, Helmut Anheier and Mark Juergensmeyer, eds.). He has been the general secretary of
the Global Studies Consortium, a worldwide association of teaching programs, since its found-
ing in 2007.
Richard Falk is Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice, Emeritus at
Princeton University, and is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Orfalea Center of Global and
International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author or editor of
numerous books, most recently Revisiting the Vietnam War (2017), Power Shift: The New Global
Order (2017), Palestine’s Horizon: Toward a Just Peace (2016), (Re)imagining Humane Global Gov-
ernance (2014), and The Path to Zero: Dialogues on Nuclear Dangers, with David A. Krieger
(2012). He is also the author of a book of poems, Waiting for Rainbows (2015).
Michael Curtin is the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Chair and Distinguished Professor of
Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include Pre-
carious Creativity: Global Media, Local Labor (2016); Distribution Revolution: Conversations about the
Digital Future of Film and Television (2014); Reorienting Global Communication: Indian and Chinese
Media Beyond Borders (2010); and Playing to the World’s Biggest Audience: The Globalization of
Chinese Film and TV (2007).
ON PUBLIC IMAGINATION
A Political and Ethical Imperative
Edited by Victor Faessel, Richard Falk, and
Michael Curtin
Firstpublished2020
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Names:Faessel,Victor,editor.|Falk,RichardA.,editor.|Curtin,Michael,editor.
Title:Onpublicimagination:apoliticalandethicalimperative/editedbyVictorFaessel,
RichardFalk,MichaelCurtin.
Identifiers:LCCN2019035222(print)|LCCN2019035223(ebook)|
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ISBN:978-0-367-36063-4(hbk)
ISBN:978-0-367-36061-0(pbk)
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
ListofContributors xii
PublicImagination:TheChallengeof21stCenturyPopulistand
AuthoritarianPolitics 1
RichardFalkandVictorFaessel
PARTI
Imagination:TheoryandEngagement 5
1 Rallying:Imagination’sPoliticalProcess 7
JulieA.Carlson
2 WhatHasHappenedtothePublicImaginationandWhy? 11
DrucillaCornellandStephenD.Seely
3 ImaginalPoliticsintheAgeofTrumpism 14
ChiaraBottici
4 PublicSpace:ThinkingattheEdgeoftheCave 17
FredDallmayr
5 ScalingImagination:ThePoliticalImplicationsofPopularMedia 21
MichaelCurtin
6 ANewOperatingSystemForHumanity:ThePowerofNarrative 25
KamalSinclair
viii Contents
PARTII
ImaginingCommunitiesandRights 29
7 LivingTogether:SecularismandtheMakingofanIndianPublicSphere 31
NeeraChandhoke
8 HowtoThinkAboutPopulism 35
AkeelBilgrami
9 MagicofPublicImagination:TranscendingPublicEvil 38
VictoriaBrittain
10 Trump,PublicImagination,andIslamophobia 41
ChandraMuzaffar
11 America’sDividedPoliticalImaginary 45
PaulW.Kahn
12 Migration,Terrorism,andtheSurvivaloftheLiberalProject 48
TomFarer
13 BuildingaMovementagainstGenocideinMyanmar:
RecoveringDemocracy’sPromise 52
PennyGreen
14 AmbedkarandDuBoisonPursuingRightsProtectionsGlobally 56
LuisCabrera
15 WhyShouldWeCareAboutChineseness? 59
AllenChun
PARTIII
EcologicalImaginations 63
16 SeedingtheFuture,SeedingFreedom 65
VandanaShiva
17 EcologicalPublics:ImaginingEpistemicOpenness 68
AnnaGrear
18 Re-imaginingPoliticsthroughtheLensoftheCommons 72
DavidBollier
Contents ix
PARTIV
RuptureandRevolution 77
19 RuminationsonDarknessandLight 79
ElizabethWest
20 PublicImaginationasPropheticLegacy 82
CatherineKeller
21 ANewAxialAge?OpeningandDisarray 86
AbdellahHammoudi
22 RevolutionaryPoliticsandPublicImagination 89
BehroozGhamari-Tabrizi
23 TheGreatGramsci:ImagininganAlt-LeftProject 92
DayanJayatilleka
24 ADialecticofUtopia/DystopiainthePublicImagination
ofthe21stCentury 95
StephenGill
PARTV
AcrosstheBorder 99
25 TheFutureofNationalandGlobal(Dis)order:Exclusive
PopulismversusInclusiveGlobalGovernance 101
AhmetDavutoğlu
26 TheIndispensabilityofUtopias:ANoteonDavutoğlu’s
VisionofGlobal(Dis)order 105
CelsoAmorim
27 ImaginingtheRighttoPeace 108
MarjorieCohn
28 PublicImaginationAboutPublicAffairs 112
JohanGaltung
29 ImaginingGlobalGovernance:AlternativestoTrump,
Brexit,andNewWars 115
MaryKaldor