Chiara Botticis influential work on imaginal politics has provided a rich theoretical framework and incisive critical analysis with which to engage the contemporary world. Rethinking the image as a pictorial space of political activity located between the poles of the creative imagination of the self and social imaginary significations of the social collective, her work has provided a critical new resource not only in the academy, but for activists as well. This collection of essays by leading scholars debates Botticis account of imaginal politics from inter-disciplinary perspectives, ranging from critical theory and political philosophy, to psychoanalysis, and sociology. It provides the first systematic and interdisciplinary engagement with the imaginal field. The book is a must-read for all scholars interested in debates on the political, social transformation, social imaginaries, and the imagination, and will appeal to researchers and graduate students across a wide variety of disciplines as well as activists and politically-engaged readers.

Suzi Adams is senior lecturer in sociology at Flinders University, Australia. She is the author of Castoriadiss Ontology: Being and Creation (2011), and editor of Cornelius Castoriadis: Key Concepts (2014).

Jeremy C A Smith is associate professor of sociology and associate dean, research in the School of Arts at Federation University Australia.

Editorial introduction Jeremy CA Smith

The Imaginaries of Moral Freedom: On Chiara Bottici and Drucilla Cornell Eduardo MendietaRethinking the Imaginal María Pía LaraRevisitingImaginal Politics: From Totalitarianism to Post-truth DemocraciesSimona FortiThe Ontography of Images: On the Legal Art of the Imaginal Peter GoodrichBottici to the Letter Jamieson WebsterTraversing Lacans Imaginary with Botticis Imaginal Patricia GheroviciIslamic Politics of Imagination: The Case of the Muslim Brotherhood Dietrich Jung and Ahmed Abou El ZalafCivilizations in history and myth: considerations on the imaginary and the imaginal Jeremy CA SmithDebating imaginal politics: a response Chiara Bottici

Author biographies

Acknowledgments

Index