Imagination, the Individual and the Global Media.

The relationship between imagination, the individual, and the global media was examined. The examination focused on two underpinning theorizations of individuality, namely, the notion of the "discursive construction of subjectivity" that draws on the work of various poststructuralist thinkers and Judith Baker's notion of the "performative." The following aspects of global culture were considered: (1) the prevalence of "liquid" metaphors, the metaphor of the net as in "network," and the metaphor of space as in "cyberspace" in current discourses of globalization; (2) the conflicting views of globalization as imperialist and democratic; (3) the conflicting visions of individuals operating on the Internet as active and passive; and (4) the conflicting visions of individuals accessing the Internet as isolated and connected. Imagination was characterized as a function of the mind that is transformative and driven by some inadequacy in reality. The implications of these aspects of individuality, global culture, and imagination for adult learning were explored. It was concluded that, in a culture that is changing as rapidly as the present global culture, a curriculum promoting imagination and creativity is needed so that students can feel themselves in control of the change and so that the change can be purposeful. (MN)