Rethinking Cornelius Castoriadis’s Crisis of Autonomy and Imagination: A Critical Engagement with Augusto Boal and Chela Sandoval

Lívia de Souza Lima

Theory, Culture and Society2026https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764251411847article
AJG 3
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

This article examines Castoriadis’s diagnosis of a crisis of autonomy and imagination, which suggests a collapse in the ability to conceive profound social transformations. While he attributes the crisis of imagination to a decline in the will for autonomy, addressing this crisis requires examining the conditions under which imagination is suppressed. Nominating epistemic injustice as a starting point, I propose reevaluating the problem of radical imagination through the paradigm of domination as a systemic and structural issue. Instead of a crisis, the problem may lie in the inadequacy of methodologies for creating conducive conditions and for recognizing emancipatory technologies from the perspective of the oppressed. To address this, I engage in a dialogue with the works of feminist philosopher Chela Sandoval and the dramaturg Augusto Boal to explore how methodologies and resistance technologies of the oppressed might be fostered and revealed.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764251411847

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@article{lívia2026,
  title        = {{Rethinking Cornelius Castoriadis’s Crisis of Autonomy and Imagination: A Critical Engagement with Augusto Boal and Chela Sandoval}},
  author       = {Lívia de Souza Lima},
  journal      = {Theory, Culture and Society},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764251411847},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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