ABSTRACT

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part foregrounds the consideration that alternative global imaginaries do – and perhaps need to – take on different forms, even when they are connected via a general anti-colonial ethos. It illustrates how the reconstruction of global politics through alternative global imaginaries can – operate at different levels: in the academic fields that we engage with, in the registers the authors deploy, the sources we consult, and the varied purposes we imbue knowledge cultivation with. The part considers alternative global imaginaries within our own teaching and learning strategies. It discusses that Giorgio Shani engages with one of the most influential 'alternative' frameworks with which to conceive of and practice global politics: human security. The part argues that Mohandas Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore were able to glean the violence inherent within the liberal kind of 'transformative' cross-cultural encounter.