The first book in English dedicated to the actress and director Tanaka Kinuyo

The first study of nineteenth-century replication across art, literature, science, social science and humanities

While each chapter seizes the dialectic of enlightenment and counter-enlightenment at work in the global world, the volume insists on the moral, intellectual, structural, and historical resources that still make cosmopolitanism a real possibility even in these hard times.

Cosmopolitanism is the idea of humanity as a single community or polis. Beyond particularities, all human beings (and in some versions of cosmopolitanism certain non-humans) are part of a community, and have responsibilities, rights and the power to decide on a common future. Ideas of cosmopolitan vary from the purely moral to cultural, social, legal, institutional, political, educational and economic cosmopolitanism, or combine some or all of these facets. All of these different perspectives try to establish the basis necessary to create a true cosmopolitanism. This book provides an introduction to the ideality and reality of cosmopolitanism, presenting it “in genesis” and giving a point of departure to students and readers of cosmopolitanism from which to analyse its various contemporary versions and proposals, providing an additional tool for their thinking and judgments in the face of a huge amount of literature today. It also offers a sense of emergency to those matters, requiring a prompt legal, political and economic response, for the continuing existence of the planet and for cosmopolitanism to continue as a viable proposal for humanity. As such, this volume will, ultimately, provoke the reader into a new spirit and action, that of cosmopolitanism.

“A brilliant and humane philosophy for our confused age.”—Samantha Power, author of A Problem from Hell Drawing on a broad range of disciplines, including history, literature, and philosophy—as well as the author's own experience of life on three continents—Cosmopolitanism is a moral manifesto for a planet we share with more than six billion strangers.

In these two important lectures, distinguished political philosopher Seyla Benhabib argues that since the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, we have entered a phase of global civil society which is governed by cosmopolitan norms of universal justice -- norms which are difficult for some to accept as legitimate since they are in conflict with democratic ideals. In her first lecture, Benhabib argues that this tension can never be fully resolved, but it can be mitigated through the renegotiation of the dual commitments to human rights and sovereign self-determination. Her second lecture develops this idea in detail, with special reference to recent developments in Europe (for example, the banning of Muslim head scarves in France). The EU has seen the replacement of the traditional unitary model of citizenship with a new model that disaggregates the components of traditional citizenship, making it possible to be a citizen of multiple entities at the same time. The volume also contains a substantive introduction by Robert Post, the volume editor, and contributions by Bonnie Honig (Northwestern University), Will Kymlicka (Queens University), and Jeremy Waldron (Columbia School of Law).

As the final installment of Public Culture’s Millennial Quartet, Cosmopolitanism assesses the pasts and possible futures of cosmopolitanism—or ways of thinking, feeling, and acting beyond one’s particular society. With contributions from distinguished scholars in disciplines such as literary studies, art history, South Asian studies, and anthropology, this volume recenters the history and theory of translocal political aspirations and cultural ideas from the usual Western vantage point to areas outside Europe, such as South Asia, China, and Africa. By examining new archives, proposing new theoretical formulations, and suggesting new possibilities of political practice, the contributors critically probe the concept of cosmopolitanism. On the one hand, cosmopolitanism may be taken to promise a form of supraregional political solidarity, but on the other, these essays argue, it may erode precisely those intimate cultural differences that derive their meaning from particular places and traditions. Given that most cosmopolitan political formations—from the Roman empire and European imperialism to contemporary globalization—have been coercive and unequal, can there be a noncoercive and egalitarian cosmopolitan politics? Finally, the volume asks whether cosmopolitanism can promise any universalism that is not the unwarranted generalization of some Western particular. Contributors. Ackbar Abbas, Arjun Appadurai, Homi K. Bhabha, T. K. Biaya, Carol A. Breckenridge, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Ousame Ndiaye Dago, Mamadou Diouf, Wu Hung, Walter D. Mignolo, Sheldon Pollock, Steven Randall

“Profound, beautifully written, and inspiring. It proves that Nussbaum deserves her reputation as one of the greatest modern philosophers.” —Globe and Mail “At a time of growing national chauvinism, Martha Nussbaum’s excellent restatement of the cosmopolitan tradition is a welcome and much-needed contribution...Illuminating and thought-provoking.” —Times Higher Education The cosmopolitan political tradition in Western thought begins with the Greek Cynic Diogenes, who, when asked where he came from, said he was a citizen of the world. Rather than declare his lineage, social class, or gender, he defined himself as a human being, implicitly asserting the equal worth of all human beings. Martha Nussbaum pursues this “noble but flawed” vision and confronts its inherent tensions. The insight that politics ought to treat human beings both as equal and as having a worth beyond price is responsible for much that is fine in the modern Western political imagination. Yet given the global prevalence of material want, the conflicting beliefs of a pluralistic society, and the challenge of mass migration and asylum seekers, what political principles should we endorse? The Cosmopolitan Tradition urges us to focus on the humanity we share rather than on what divides us. “Lucid and accessible...In an age of resurgent nationalism, a study of the idea and ideals of cosmopolitanism is remarkably timely.” —Ryan Patrick Hanley, Journal of the History of Philosophy

Mohamad examines the day-to-day experience of virtual and non-tangible mobilities of young Bruneian Malay Muslim and Malaysians, as enabled by popular culture and digital media. Cosmopolitanism has garnered interest from sociology, political studies, religious studies, geography, and education scholars. Despite this, there are three gaps in the study of Muslim cosmopolitanism. Firstly, young Muslims' cosmopolitanism in the digital age has not been intensively studied. Secondly, existing research overlooks Southeast Asia, especially Brunei Darussalam. Thirdly, the focus has not sufficiently engaged with popular culture and new media. This book addresses these gaps by exploring the everyday lives of Bruneian Malay Muslim and Malaysian youths, shaped by local, transcultural, and global practices. It expands the Muslim cosmopolitanism concept by examining the daily concerns, challenges, and practices these youths experience, offering new forms of mediated Muslim cosmopolitanism. Grounded in robust empirical data from two extensive research projects (2010-2024), this book employs diverse research approaches (ethnography and phenomenology) and methods (Qualitative Content Analysis and Interviews), ensuring reliable and in-depth findings. Scholars in geography, sociology, religious studies, and youth studies will find this book invaluable for its insights into cosmopolitanism, popular culture, new media, digital youth, and contemporary Southeast Asia.

Cosmopolitanism and relevant notions are widely discussed in philosophy of education and educational studies more generally. There is a vast literature on the topic that often invites conceptual discussion and requires some work in the direction of crucial clarifications. Thinking Differently About Cosmopolitanism argues that a new conception of cosmopolitanism is needed and addresses this need by formulating a conception of cosmopolitanism as an "eccentric" ethico-political ideal. Such cosmopolitanism is eccentric in the sense that it decenters the self, it cultivates centrifugal virtues, and it questions the concern for the globally enriched self. In this book, Papastephanou lays the foundation for a more refined conception of the topic, and provides a fruitful interdisciplinary discussion of its relation to globalization, Eurocentricism, developmentalism, and modernity.