We tend to think of imagination as private, originating from our innermost selves—and language as something that is created in communication. Turning this idea on its head, the contributors to Dialogical Imaginations start from the provocative premise that imagination and language are both inherently social constructs that determine how we perceive the world. In addition, the idea of imagination as a dialogical formation, where dialogue within the self can raise questions and can open up new topics for consideration, may also be applied to how societies as a whole perceive their own conditions.

With contributors from a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, media and film studies, art history, literature, and sociology, the book considers a wide variety of cultural manifestations of social perception. In the process, it offers a reevaluation of he concept of humanism, addressing key criticisms of by Foucault, Butler, and others.