Imagination And The Public Sphere

Author : Susan G. Cumings
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2020-05-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781527551176

Get Book

Imagination and the Public Sphere by Susan G. Cumings Pdf

Imagination and the Public Sphere is an interdisciplinary collection which explores the politics of identities and the equally challenging politics of social space, seeking the potential for authentic debate and dissent in a public sphere transformed by the mass media and consumer culture. Using both contemporary and historical examples, contributors to this volume address such intersecting, and at times competing, elements of lived experience and cultural practice as art and politics, celebrity culture and staged display, gender and religion, religion and science, religion and technology, and technology and teaching, aware of the dynamic interplays of expression and regulation and alert for the emergence of unanticipated ways of living and making meaningful connection. This collection asks, in an era that sees identities increasingly pre-packaged and lives thoroughly mediatized and multiply surveyed, what it means to have collectivity, collective life, and what it means to imagine new possibilities and perform them into being. It asks that we take part in addressing these questions together.

Author : Mihaela Czobor-Lupp
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2014-10-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780739199077

Get Book

Imagination in Politics by Mihaela Czobor-Lupp Pdf

Imagination is a complex and ambiguous culture-making power, which, while central to politics, is a rather marginal concept in contemporary political theory. By drawing on works of modern and contemporary Continental political philosophers, this book addresses how imagination can be both a source of freedom and domination in liberal-democratic politics, and argues for a benign public employment of images and narratives in a global world of diverse cultures. The challenge is not to keep contemporary politics clear of images, but to better distinguish between benign and malign uses of creativity in the public realm. This distinction is important because the language employed by the participants in the complex cultural dialogue that characterizes modern plural societies is constituted by metaphors and myths, which form their perceptions and sensibilities. The embedment of communicative practices in a society’s imaginary brings an ambivalent psychological and emotional potential into democratic politics. Modern liberal-democracies can shift the public employment of imagination either in a direction that increases the autonomous capacity of individuals to engage culture and language in a creative and interactive manner in the construction of their identities, or in a direction that increases fascination with images and myths and, consequently, the escapist desire to pull these out of the living dialogue with others. Turning the public work of creativity in the first direction requires a conscious change in the modern social imaginary. This can be achieved through the aesthetic cultivation of an ethical productive imagination: both analogical and explorative, both empathic and reflective. While capable of creatively giving utopian impetus to politics, this imagination would also stir the individuals’ responsiveness to the particularity of others and to their capacity to be equal and free partners in the making of a common world. An important avenue in achieving this objective in modern liberal-democracies will be provided by the capacity of literary works to open up public spaces of dialogue. There the renewal of the metaphors and myths that frame individual and collective identities in a society can have transformative effects that increase the individuals’ ability for cross cultural understanding.

Author : Kevin D Murphy,Sally O'Driscoll
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2021-02-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781000340273

Get Book

Public Space/Contested Space by Kevin D Murphy,Sally O'Driscoll Pdf

It is not possible to be alive today in the United States without feeling the influence of the political climate on the spaces where people live, work, and form communities. Public Space/Contested Space illustrates the ways in which creative interventions in public space have constituted a significant dimension of contemporary political action, and how this space can both reflect and spur economic and cultural change. Drawing insight from a range of disciplines and fields, the essays in this volume assess the effectiveness of protest movements that deploy bodies in urban space, and social projects that build communities while also exposing inequalities and presenting new political narratives. With sections exploring the built environment, artists, and activists and public space, the book brings together the diverse voices to reveal the complexities and politicization of public space within the United States. Public Space/Contested Space provides a significant contribution to an understudied dimension of contemporary political action and will be a resource to students of urban studies and planning, architecture, sociology, art history, and human geography.

Author : Max Haiven
Publisher : Zed Books Ltd.
Page : 191 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2014-03-13
Category : Art
ISBN : 9781780329550

Get Book

Crises of Imagination, Crises of Power by Max Haiven Pdf

Today, when it seems like everything has been privatized, when austerity is too often seen as an economic or political problem that can be solved through better policy, and when the idea of moral values has been commandeered by the right, how can we re-imagine the forces used as weapons against community, solidarity, ecology and life itself? In this stirring call to arms, Max Haiven argues that capitalism has colonized how we all imagine and express what is valuable. Looking at the decline of the public sphere, the corporatization of education, the privatization of creativity, and the power of finance capital in opposition to the power of the imagination and the growth of contemporary social movements, Haiven provides a powerful argument for creating an anti-capitalist commons. Capitalism is not in crisis, it is the crisis, and moving beyond it is the only key to survival. Crucial reading for all those questioning the imposition of austerity and hoping for a fairer future beyond it.

Author : Karlfriedrich Herb,Jen Glaser,Barbara Weber,Eva Marsal,Takara Dobashi
Publisher : LIT Verlag Münster
Page : 207 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 9783643904256

Get Book

Narrative, Dreams, Imagination by Karlfriedrich Herb,Jen Glaser,Barbara Weber,Eva Marsal,Takara Dobashi Pdf

Who are we? Who do we want to become? How do we imagine our futures? Located at the intersection of theory and practice, this anthology brings together the voices of scholars, graduate students, and educational practitioners as they explore foundational concepts that inform questions of identity and citizenship and shape the way we think about the future. Concepts - such as narrative, dreams, imagination, and hope - are explored from both a philosophical perspective and from the perspective of young people from Israel and Germany who reflect on their own experiences. (Series: Political Philosophy and Anthropological Studies / Politische Philosophie und Anthropologische Studien - Vol. 3)

Author : Kjetil Fretheim
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 189 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2016-12-22
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781498298698

Get Book

Interruption and Imagination by Kjetil Fretheim Pdf

As we are faced with recurring crises--financial, migration, climate, etc.--there is a need to reconsider public theology as both a practice and a field of study. By discussing public statements made by Christians faced with different kinds of crisis, this book contributes to the development and understanding of public theology. The public statements addressed are three kairos documents: The Kairos Document from South Africa in the mid-1980s; The Road to Damascus document from authors in developing countries, issued in 1989; and the Palestinian Kairos Document from 2009. The discussion is structured around three problems of public theology: social analysis, politics and ethics, and language and voice. Fretheim suggests a constructionist understanding of public theology--a public theology that interrupts current debates and expands the imagination of the public sphere. As public theology is concerned with public life and social issues, Interruption and Imagination will be of interest to scholars and students of theology, political science, sociology, and religious studies, as well as practitioners, policymakers, and professionals in the public sector, civil society, churches, and Christian organizations.

Author : Vinay Lal
Publisher : OUP India
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2009-09-17
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0198064187

Get Book

Political Hinduism by Vinay Lal Pdf

This volume addresses issues of tremendous topical relevance: the transmission of Hinduism to the United States, Gandhi's religious politics and secularism, analysis of 'Vande Mataram' and its immensely rich history, popular patriotism in Hindi cinema, and much more.

Author : John Milton
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 1890
Category : Freedom of the press
ISBN : PRNC:32101068573029

Get Book

Areopagitica by John Milton Pdf

Author : Henry Jenkins,Gabriel Peters-Lazaro,Sangita Shresthova
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2020-02-04
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781479891252

Get Book

Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination by Henry Jenkins,Gabriel Peters-Lazaro,Sangita Shresthova Pdf

How popular culture is engaged by activists to effect emancipatory political change One cannot change the world unless one can imagine what a better world might look like. Civic imagination is the capacity to conceptualize alternatives to current cultural, social, political, or economic conditions; it also requires the ability to see oneself as a civic agent capable of making change, as a participant in a larger democratic culture. Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination represents a call for greater clarity about what we’re fighting for—not just what we’re fighting against. Across more than thirty examples from social movements around the world, this casebook proposes “civic imagination” as a framework that can help us identify, support, and practice new kinds of communal participation. As the contributors demonstrate, young people, in particular, are turning to popular culture—from Beyoncé to Bollywood, from Smokey Bear to Hamilton, from comic books to VR—for the vernacular through which they can express their discontent with current conditions. A young activist uses YouTube to speak back against J. K. Rowling in the voice of Cho Chang in order to challenge the superficial representation of Asian Americans in children’s literature. Murals in Los Angeles are employed to construct a mythic imagination of Chicano identity. Twitter users have turned to #BlackGirlMagic to highlight the black radical imagination and construct new visions of female empowerment. In each instance, activists demonstrate what happens when the creative energies of fans are infused with deep political commitment, mobilizing new visions of what a better democracy might look like.

Author : Bernd Fischer
Publisher : Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Civil society
ISBN : 3034309910

Get Book

Cultural Transformations of the Public Sphere by Bernd Fischer Pdf

The last decade has seen renewed interest in political theories of the public sphere, reacting to new challenges posed by globalization, communication technology, and intra- and international conflicts. The essays in this volume explore different strategies for enriching the ongoing debates on this issue.

Author : Peter Dahlgren
Publisher : SAGE
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 1995-10-01
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 0803989237

Get Book

Television and the Public Sphere by Peter Dahlgren Pdf

In this broad-ranging text, Peter Dahlgren clarifies the underlying theoretical concepts of civil society and the public sphere, and relates these to a critical analysis of the practice of television as journalism, as information and as entertainment. He demonstrates the limits and the possibilities of the television medium and the formats of popular journalism. These issues are linked to the potential of the audience to interpret or resist messages, and to construct its own meanings. What does a realistic understanding of the functioning and the capabilities of television imply for citizenship and democracy in a mediated age?

Author : Natalie K. Houghtby-Haddon
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2011-04-07
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781630879853

Get Book

Changed Imagination, Changed Obedience by Natalie K. Houghtby-Haddon Pdf

In this work, Houghtby-Haddon takes a new look at an old text, using a theory of the Social Imagination as an exegetical guide. In her exploration of the Bent-Over Woman story in Luke 13:10-17, Houghtby-Haddon uncovers clues suggesting that this story is a key interpretive text for seeing Luke's social vision for his community at work. Exploring mythic, social, communal, and cultural elements beneath the surface of the story, Houghtby-Haddon suggests that the Bent-Over Woman is the embodiment of Jesus' claim in the synagogue in Nazareth that "today, these Scriptures are fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:16-21), and that the woman prefigures the post-Pentecost community that will gather in Jesus' name. The author concludes by taking the theory from the Gospel of Luke to the streets to see how a contemporary neighborhood group might use the Social Imagination model--and the new reading of the story of the Bent-Over Woman--to imagine a twenty-first-century social vision for its own community: a vision that more fully embodies the just community Jesus proclaims in Nazareth.

Author : Victor Faessel,Richard Falk,Michael Curtin
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2019-12-06
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781000747423

Get Book

On Public Imagination by Victor Faessel,Richard Falk,Michael Curtin Pdf

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 essays 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 essays 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. Part 1 introduces the reader to theoretical reflections on imagination and the public sphere; Part 2 illustrates dynamics of public imagination in a diverse set of cultural contexts; 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; Part 4 suggests new societal possibilities that are related to spiritual as well as politically revolutionary sources of inspiration; 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. Chapter 18 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Author : Robert Fanuzzi
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : History
ISBN : 0816640890

Get Book

Abolition's Public Sphere by Robert Fanuzzi Pdf

Echoes of Thomas Paine and Enlightenment thought resonate throughout the abolitionist movement and in the efforts of its leaders to create an anti-slavery reading public. In Abolition's Public Sphere Robert Fanuzzi critically examines the writings of William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Henry David Thoreau, and Sarah and Angelina Grimke and their massive abolition publicity campaign--pamphlets, newspapers, petitions, and public gatherings--geared to an audience of white male citizens, free black noncitizens, women, and the enslaved. Including provocative readings of Thoreau's Walden and of the symbolic space of Boston's Faneuil Hall, Abolition's Public Sphere demonstrates how abolitionist public discourse sought to reenact eighteenth-century scenarios of revolution and democracy in the antebellum era. Fanuzzi illustrates how the dissemination of abolitionist tracts served to create an "imaginary public" that promoted and provoked the discussion of slavery. However, by embracing Enlightenment abstractions of liberty, reason, and progress, Fanuzzi argues, abolitionist strategy introduced aesthetic concerns that challenged political institutions of the public sphere and prevailing notions of citizenship. Insightful and thought-provoking, Abolition's Public Sphere questions standard versions of abolitionist history and, in the process, our understanding of democracy itself.

Author : Scott M. Cleary
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2019-09-25
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780813942940

Get Book

The Field of Imagination by Scott M. Cleary Pdf

One of America’s Founding Fathers, Thomas Paine is best remembered as the pamphleteer who inspired the American Revolution. Yet few also know him as an eighteenth-century poet of considerable repute. In The Field of Imagination, Scott Cleary offers the first book on Paine’s poetry, exploring how poetry written both by and about Paine is central to understanding his development as a political theorist. Despite his claim in The Age of Reason that he was abandoning poetry because it led too much into the "field of imagination," Paine never completely left poetry behind. He took advantage of his position as editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine to situate his poetry in relation to the magazine’s tacit support of American independence. He drew on two British poets, James Thomson and Charles Churchill, to provide revealing epigraphs for his major early works in support of that independence, and in turn he himself became an influence on early American poets such as Joel Barlow and Philip Freneau. Paine’s poetry has until now been largely relegated to the status of scholarly curiosity. But whether through his own poetry, his thoughts on the place and function of poetry in the Age of Reason, or his deep influence on the poetry of the early American republic, Paine’s involvement in poetical craft provides a lens onto the unique and tempestuous literary culture of the eighteenth century.