Introduction: Indigenous Alternatives and Ethical Imagination

Abstract

The role of imagination as a creative force in generating indigenous alternative organizing models is not given enough attention. Although phenomenology allows us to examine the way we experience our relationship with the world without reducing it to sense perception alone, most of the literature is still fixated on understanding human experiences from a Western rational perspective treating imagination as a mental faculty. Nevertheless, many non-Western traditions, such as Islam, consider imagination as a spiritual activity and as a human capacity of generating true and meaningful knowledge thereby going beyond pure phenomenological interpretations. By resorting to this spiritual imagination, we can replace the contemporary neoliberal imaginary with an ethical imaginary focused on local epistemological frameworks. This ethical imaginary is essential for generating alternative models.