Borders and cosmopolitanism in the global city: “London River”

Abstract

This article explores the representation of borders and cosmopolitanism in the city of London in “London River”, a film about two parents looking for their children in global city after the 7th of July of 2005 terrorist attacks. As will be argued, different spaces in the city work simultaneously as dividing lines and as borderlands, emphasising the dual nature of borders theorized by border scholars such as Gloria Anzaldúa (1999), Mike Davis (2000) and Anthony Cooper and Christopher Rumford (2011). Elijah Anderson’s (2011) concept of cosmopolitan canopy and Gerard Delanty’s (2006) moments of openness will be used to analyse the articulation of cosmopolitanism in the different constructed spaces displayed in the film.