Cosmopolitan Theory Research Articles

Towards A True Afropolitanism: Reconstructing African Diasporic Identities

This essay redefines the idea of Afropolitanism lost in the world of identity and cultural studies. Defined by Taiye Selasi as a concept that studies persons of African descent who found home everywhere they lived, yet belonged nowhere, this paper holds an opposing view to this interpretation of Afropolitans. We argue that Afropolitans are African diaspora who are (un)consciously slanted to their root in a specific manner; they belong somewhere and the construction and reconstruction of their identity are tied to their root. To re-theorize Afropolitanism in this manner, this research examines Michael Kerr's idea of the post-modern self, showing a comparative account of the pseudo-self and the solid-self, in relation to the Afropolitan identity construction. The re-interpretation of James Clifford’s position on place and space and the examination of Cecil Blake’s ideology of belonging, root, and routes, are critical to my re-reading of the Afropolitan vibe. Although derived from theories of cultural hybridity, transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, and elective affinity, this paper demystifies Afropolitanism by showing how it differs remarkably from these theories in analyzing the underlying questions of frican identity and lived experience. Whilst lived experiences of African diaspora constitute part of the existence of the Afropolitan, we argue that the construction of the Afropolitan identity is not reliant on an acquired identity or lived experience but an ascribed identity and root. Okey Ndibe’s Never Look an American in the Eyes, will serve as the primary text for this analysis, and we conclude this research by articulating how Ndibe and other Afropolitan novelists manipulate culture, language, and race to reflect our position on Afropolitanism.

On the Notion of “Peaceful Rise” and its Value Orientations: Some Views from China

As Chinese President Xi Jinping assesses, the entire world is now facing unprecedented changes not seen before in hundreds of years. In this respect, China has in recent years increasingly turned to its tradition, including philosophical concepts of ancient thinkers and traditional values, to draw on its own historical experience in the search for new formulas and ways of building (or rebuilding) a world order, as well as to promote its “peaceful rise”. In this article author attempts to find answers to the question, “What is meant by China's peaceful rise?” in the writings of Chinese scholars. It briefly outlines the ongoing debate on the essence of China's peaceful rise, and hence the experts' views on what impact the Chinese rise may have on the world order as a whole. The paper pays attention to the question of value orientations in this process by analyzing a number of new so-called Chinese theories of international relations and foreign policy. Examples touched upon include the theory of the “celestial” system, the theory of “moral realism”, and the theory of new cosmopolitanism, the development of which takes into account the essential need of modern China at the international level. In particular, their role for the construction of the community of destiny of mankind both on the theoretical and practical foreign policy level is also studied. As the main conclusion, it is noted that China today is gradually moving along the specific path, the essence of which is reflected in the four idioms put forward by Fei Xiaotong. Adhering to this path, China takes various opportunities and occasions to show the world which way it will develop under the guidance of values emanating from the depths of Chinese history and culture. Author is grateful to Prof. A.N. Karneev and T. Kuznetsova for constructive comments on the article's content and editing.

Author's Reply: Transnational Pasts and Presents: Method and Critique in the Political Theory of Cosmopolitanism - Inés Valdez: Transnational Cosmopolitanism: Kant, Du Bois, and Justice as a Political Craft. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. 210.)

Author's Reply: Transnational Pasts and Presents: Method and Critique in the Political Theory of Cosmopolitanism - Inés Valdez: Transnational Cosmopolitanism: Kant, Du Bois, and Justice as a Political Craft. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. 210.) - Volume 84 Issue 1

FROM CROSSING THE RIVER TO THE LOST CHILD: A GENEALOGY OF LIMINAL SPACE

Reflecting his protagonists’ scattered lives and sense of displace- ment, Caryl Phillips’s proverbial spatial and temporal criss-crossing creates a liminal chronotope which shelters an assortment of exiles, refugees, outcasts, and orphans from different geographical, cultural, and historical backgrounds. His suitably compartmentalised yet cohe- sive narrative structures stray away from any traditional form of the novel, producing shifting structural arrangements and evoking con- temporary cosmopolitan redefinitions of space. This article focuses on several novels by Phillips and combines cosmopolitan theory and geocriticism, with some postcolonial theory, to trace a genealogy of global liminal space established through kaleidoscopic spatio- temporal disruptions. By adopting a cross-disciplinary approach, it hopes to show how the breadth of Phillips’s perspective reflects on the affinity between space, memory, and amnesia in nonelite forms of cosmopolitanism.

Attilâ İlhan’s Anti-Cosmopolitanism

Attilâ İlhan (1925-2005) was an active public intellectual and a prolific author who wrote poems, novels, essays, and screenplays. While his poetics are marked by his distinct romantic style, his novelistic writing follows a strong social realist line. With his enthusiasm for Atatürk’s national revolution, his interest in the Ottoman culture, and his Marxist formation, he emphasises the importance of a “national culture synthesis” in his essays. He builds this idea of “national culture synthesis” in opposition to the so-called universal values of cosmopolitanism. This article discusses İlhan’s anticosmopolitanism as such in the light of the current theories of critical cosmopolitanism. While İlhan argues against “compradorial cosmopolites” in his essays, his anticosmopolitanism is rather prominent in his novels as well. Set in major cities, the novels celebrate the diversity and dynamism of their cityscapes. However, his depiction of such diversity exposes the ambivalences underneath his anti-cosmopolitanism. The article first provides a parallel reading of two contemporaries, Attilâ İlhan and Frantz Fanon, on national consciousness and cosmopolitanism. Then it focuses on İlhan’s Zenciler Birbirine Benzemez as a case study. Finally, it extrapolates upon the problems of his anti-cosmopolitanism within his broader literary oeuvre.

Cosmopolitan Humility and Local Self-Governance

Abstract Do local or grassroots level face-to-face self-governing communities have a place in theories of institutional cosmopolitanism? I pose this question in response to Luis Cabrera’s (2020) use of B. R. Ambedkar’s ideas to defend an instrumentally oriented democratic institutional cosmopolitanism that counters the arrogance objections raised against cosmopolitanism. Cabrera interprets Ambedkar as an exponent of political humility and having an instrumentalist approach to democracy. My response expands on a connection Cabrera briefly discusses – between humility and humiliation – and makes two observations. First, Ambedkar makes a distinction between institutions of democracy and democracy as a form of society. The latter is an end-in-itself synonymous with the practice of political humility. Second, Gandhi’s vision of self-governing village republics, which Ambedkar rejects, with universal franchise and guaranteed representation for marginalized groups that Ambedkar advocated at the national level could have been spaces for practicing political humility locally.

Narrating the Nation? National Identity and the Uncanny in De Bernières’ Birds without Wings

Informed primarily by Bhabha and Kristeva's theories of national identity and the uncanny, the article examines the themes of nation building, migration and the uncanny in Louis de Bernières’ Birds Without Wings. It also explores the cosmopolitan nature of the late Ottoman Empire, as portrayed by de Bernières, from the perspective of critical cosmopolitan theory and Bhabha's concept of vernacular cosmopolitanism. The novel depicts the fortunes of a South-West Anatolian village, populated primarily by monoglot Turkish-speaking Greek Orthodox Christians and Muslims, through a turbulent historical period, from the First World War to the 1923 declaration of the Republic of Turkey and the subsequent population exchange between Greece and the new Turkish state. Despite the Christian and Muslim villagers’ arguably hybrid identities, forged in the context of a cosmopolitan Ottoman Empire, and their largely shared culture and harmonious co-existence, they are eventually forced to redefine themselves as ‘Greeks’ and ‘Turks’. The Turkish-speaking Christian villagers, exiled to Greece, have an uncanny, unsettling effect on a Greek national identity largely constructed with Turkey as its principal Other; the experience of the new Turkish citizens left behind in the decaying, half-deserted village is an equally unhomely one.

A Global Communication M.A. Double Degree Program: Conceptualizing and working through diversity

At a time when diversity and de-westernization are current buzz words for injecting social justice into the future of communication studies, we must address how we conceptualize and con-front these concepts in practice. Academic Cosmopolitanism has been proposed as one way forward, but it remains in the trenches of cosmopolitan theory’s difficulty of dealing with diversity in political systems. Simon Fraser University and the Communication University of China’s Global Communi-cation MA Double Degree Program embodies many of the core values of academic cosmopolitanism. Grounded in a transcultural political economy framework however, it embraces some of the kinds of conflicts that cosmopolitanism sets up as barriers. Via autoethnographic accounts from the pro-gram’s first teaching assistant and an alumnae from its first cohort, we explore how the conflicts involved in conceptualizing and confronting diversity are experienced on the ground. We conclude by highlighting the ways in which transcultural political economy enriches discussions on diversity and inform efforts to de-colonize communication studies.

FOOD, MODERNITY AND IDENTITY: ROOTED COSMOPOLITANISM IN ADICHIE’S AMERICANAH

In globalization era, there are many producers of global foods that have localized their products in order to get more costumers. Indeed, there are some people who cannot be separated with their locality, although they are part of global citizen. This paper discusses the tug-of-war between cosmopolitanism and localism within the persona of Ifemelu, the main character in Americanah, specifically in what food she eats and how the food is eaten and its influence on her identity. Americanah is a novel that tells the story of a Nigerian immigrant living in the United States who decided to return to Nigeria. The study focuses on the characters and characterization of the figures in the novel and it aims to show how a rooted cosmopolitan identity was formed in Ifemelu. The study is a qualitative research using the rooted cosmopolitanism theory proposed by Kwame Anthony Appiah. The research shows that Ifemelu's rooted cosmopolitan identity was seen through the negotiation between her cosmopolitan identity and her local (Nigerian) identity. The discourse on rooted cosmopolitanism built by the text reveals its partiality toward Nigerian local culture, specifically the Nigerian foods.

Pop cosmopolitanism and online language learning: findings from a discrete choice experiment

ABSTRACT This article considers the burgeoning online market for language learning as representative of an emerging form of Internet-enabled pop cosmopolitanism. The analysis is based upon a survey-experiment conducted on one of the world’s largest online language learning platforms. Drawing on theories of media globalization, cosmopolitanism and language ideologies, the study explores the factors that drive participation in online language learning and the attributes students favor in teacher selection. The results suggest that student preferences are closely related to learning motivations and media consumption. Specifically, ‘pop cosmopolitan’ students are far more likely to favor native speakers than students who are motivated by more mundane instrumental goals (such as career advancement). We attribute these findings to enduring perceptions about native speakers as more authentic representations of a particular language and culture. The implications of these findings for theories of pop cosmopolitanism and online language learning are discussed.

István Hont, the Cosmopolitan Theory of Commercial Globalization, and Twenty-First-Century Capitalism

This critical essay explores the work of István Hont. Members of the Cambridge school eschewed the term “capitalism” as an anachronistic description of the contexts that informed early modern politico-economic thought, preferring instead the ostensibly more neutral “commercial society.” But Hont's understanding of the latter was nevertheless quite present-minded and politically charged. Hont drove nineteenth- and twentieth-century economic theory back into eighteenth-century models, and his view of the economy that gave rise to them was informed by concerns in the 1980s and 1990s over the competitiveness of advanced capitalist nations in the face of low-cost insurgents such as China. More deliberate choices of recent economic theory can produce more accurate alternatives to the supposedly neutral “commercial society” depicted by Hont. World systems and dependency theory may help us to better understand the economic thought produced in and about the specifically capitalist world economy of the early modern period.

Deaf cosmopolitanism: calibrating as a moral process

ABSTRACT Cosmopolitanism theory was mostly developed separately from the study of multilingualism: while language is central to cosmopolitanism as a practice, only a few scholars focusing on cosmopolitanism have taken a language-centred approach. We further theorise the relationship between cosmopolitanism and translingual practice with our focus on morality in relation to the use of the semiotic repertoire. The use of resources of the semiotic repertoire in translingual practice is infused with morality in that resources (such as languages, individual signs, mouthing, fingerspelling alphabets) are value laden and have particular associations or meanings in a given context. We explore and define deaf cosmopolitanism by offering examples from three international settings: deaf tourism in Bali, a sign language conference in Brazil, and a Bible translation centre in Kenya. Deaf people engaging in international mobilities align in communication by what they call ‘calibrating’. In this process, mobile deaf people quickly adopt new semiotic resources by engaging in rapid, immersive and informal (sign) language learning, acquiring (bits of) new sign languages, mouthing, written words, and fingerspelling alphabets, and including them in their practice of calibrating. Our analysis centres language ideologies about these practices, demonstrating moral ideas about what strategies and semiotic resources are most appropriate in specific contexts and/or with/by whom.

‘German Theory’: Cosmopolitan geographies, counterfactual histories and the (non)travel of a ‘German Foucault’

In this paper, I propose the notion of ‘German Theory’ to allude to the processes of translation and circulation of theoretical ideas discussed in the German humanities and German geography across and beyond the linguistic boundaries of its origin. However, these ideas did not travel, at least not to Anglophone geography. This paper investigates why not, and it maps out the lost theoretical potential that has been foregone as a result. ‘German Theory’ is thus read here as a potentiality that has not actualised. More specifically, this paper studies the reception of Foucault, as it emerged in two distinct territories of thought, each with their own interpretation: first, Kittler’s work on the materiality of discourse in German humanities, and second, the ‘discourse school’ in German geography. The latter’s insistence on the textuality of discourse disconnected their Foucault reception not only from Kittler’s, but equally so from ongoing debates in Anglophone geography. By reflecting on why the ‘German Foucault’ did not travel to Anglophone geography, I raise a speculative epistemological question about the im/potentiality of ‘German Theory’: could a more cosmopolitan theory have emerged from a circulation of these ideas had they travelled across linguistic boundaries?

세계주의의 편승이라는 ‘식민주의’와 도립적(倒立的) 내셔널리즘 — 『계간삼천리』와 내재성 문제를 중심으로 —

세계주의의 편승이라는 ‘식민주의’와 도립적(倒立的) 내셔널리즘 — 『계간삼천리』와 내재성 문제를 중심으로 —

Statism and Cosmopolitanism on Global Justice and Universal Fundamental Rights

This review paper critically assesses the two main theories of global justice, statism and cosmopolitanism, according to which fundamental rights, and their corresponding duties, ought to be differently upheld, and enforced, at the global level. Its main aim is to go beyond the limitations of these theories defending the equal relevance of both fundamental civil and political rights and socio-economic rights, and their corresponding duties, at the global level and the need for the assessment of their implementation according to the level of their justification. To pursue this objective, the paper argues for the conceptualization of a fair (common) mean among these two categories of rights which can be morally and politically constructed on the very basic right to reciprocal and general justification. Accordingly, the focus is posed on the interconnection as well as conflicts between these two categories of rights, and their corresponding duties, establishing a measure according to which their justification can be assessed, and their implementation and enforcement be ensured. This paper seeks also to prove that this conceptualization of fundamental rights and duties, which takes together Aristotles conception of justice and Forsts critical theory of political and social justice, can provide a sketch on how a fair implementation and enforcement of peoples and persons rights and duties ought to be conceived at the global level.

Strange Characters: Dialogic Selves and Cosmopolitanism in Carl Van Vechten's Peter Whiffle

Carl Van Vechten's novel Peter Whiffle. His Life and Works (1922) is a work of ‘autobiografiction’, merging biography and autobiography, and drawing attention to the fictional elements of life writing. It problematizes authorship and posits selfhood as a dialogic, polyphonic construct, dependent on the strategies, content and structure of narrative. The article explores the complex intertextual presence of George Moore's Confessions of a Young Man in Van Vechten's novel: they both propose different aspects of a similar story of two friends with cosmopolitan and refined tastes, whose subjectivities are mediated by constant references to other literary characters, and who depend on one another's narratives to have access to their own selves, or at least to become authors of works of art about themselves. Drawing on Adriana Cavarero's and Lucia Boldrini's studies on auto/biographical selves, and on Rebecca Walkowitz's and Homi Bhabha's theories of cosmopolitanism, the article argues that Peter Whiffle's emphasis on dialogic subjectivity questions the notion of authorship and creates a problematic, parodic form of cosmopolitanism. This type of cosmopolitanism does not contribute to any productive experiences of self-knowledge or of knowledge of the foreign ‘other’, but rather asks crucial questions on the very possibility of these experiences.

The European Convention of Human Rights as a Kantian cosmopolitan legal order

AbstractInA Cosmopolitan Legal Order: Kant, Constitutional Justice and the European Convention on Human Rights, Alec Stone Sweet and Clare Ryan argue that there has been the emergence of, and increasing prospects for, a cosmopolitan legal order based on the Convention. This symposium aims to engage with, and to better explore, the theoretical implications and practical legal ramifications of their argument. In doing so, this first article acts as a general introduction to the symposium, laying out the major arguments of the book as well as arguments presented by the symposium contributors. Moving beyond the summative, this introduction also situatesA Cosmopolitan Legal Oderwithin broader debates in global constitutionalism, while defending its use of Kant’s cosmopolitan theory. Lastly, it explores some of the key implications and challenges that arise from the symposium itself, rooting these insights within the current context of anti-globalism, nationalism, populism and neo-sovereigntism, and the corresponding necessity for a more transitional and pluralistic response as offered inA Cosmopolitan Legal Order.

Legal cosmopolitanism in international law

AbstractThis article concerns two aspects of Stone Sweet and Ryan’s theory of legal cosmopolitanism: (1) what the Kantian cosmopolitan legal order means for an international court; and (2) what it means for the holders of the rights that flow from the cosmopolitan legal order. The article interrogates the extent to which, in order to be considered a truly cosmopolitan legal order, the European Convention on Human Rights needs at times not only to make non-citizens free of rights equal to those of citizens, but also to give them stronger rights than those enjoyed by citizens. The article concludes by turning to the meaning of the European Convention beyond its European context. The European system for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms may fail or succeed, yet the enthusiasm that the most successful rights-protecting body in the world has created in bystanders, and the very fact that it came into being at all, prove that real progress is possible. From a Kantian perspective, this may well be its greatest accomplishment.

Celebrity endorsements in destination marketing: A three country investigation

The present study extends research on the role of celebrity endorsements in destination marketing by exploring various facets of the effect of celebrity endorsements in destination marketing on the consumer. More specifically, theories of source credibility, congruence, social identity and consumer cosmopolitanism, are used to build research questions that investigate the relative effectiveness of a celebrity endorsed tourism advertisement vis a vis a generic advertisement and the boundary conditions governing the same such as destination type (local/global), celebrity country of origin and consumer level factors. The research questions are addressed using four experimental studies in sequence. The same four experiments are run in three countries with different socio-cultural backgrounds to enhance generalization, with a combined sample size of 1073 respondents. Major findings suggest that a celebrity endorser is effective for a destination advertisement. Significant cross-country differences were observed in consumer affect depending on the choice of celebrity (local or global) and the destination type (i.e., domestic or international). The effects are also moderated by consumer cosmopolitanism. The study has multiple theoretical and managerial implications.

Cosmopolitanism in exclusionary contexts

AbstractAlthough over time mass migration has brought about de facto cosmopolitan situations in Gulf cities, foreign residents continue to experience segregation and endure exclusionary policies and practices on a daily basis. This article unpacks two sets of internal tensions that characterise cosmopolitanism in the Gulf, through a comparison of cosmopolitan discourses and practices in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Jeddah. The first tension relates to official discourses and policies: Saudi and Emirati governments design and enforce exclusionary policies and, at the same time, publicly endorse cosmopolitan ideals and projects—consisting in Islamic universalism for Saudi cities and the rhetoric of tolerance for the United Arab Emirates. Such cosmopolitan claims are, moreover, reflected in the aspirations and subjectivities of migrants and local citizens while also generating feelings of alienation. We call this discursive paradox cosmopolitanism in denial. The second tension concerns migrants' everyday practices and modes of consumption in urban spaces. We argue that these are best understood as a form of segregated cosmopolitanism, whereby both Gulf citizens and the various migrant communities explicitly acknowledge, and at times consume, urban diversity but also maintain certain boundaries. Drawing on an analysis of both governmental and individual discourses, as well as on ethnographic observations collected over a decade of fieldwork in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, our research engages with theories of cosmopolitanism from a situated perspective. As such, it moves away from the dominant unitary and normative approach to cosmopolitanism and instead emphasises both the resilience and transience of everyday cosmopolitan situations.