Figures of the cosmopolitan: privileged nationals and national outsider.
Article
Kofman, E. 2005. Figures of the cosmopolitan: privileged nationals and national outsider. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. 18 (1), pp. 83-97. https://doi.org/10.1080/1351161042000334808
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | Figures of the cosmopolitan: privileged nationals and national outsider. |
Authors | Kofman, E. |
Abstract | In contemporary European social and political thought, cosmopolitanism is frequently closely linked with the modern cultural citizen, who is open to the variety of global cultures and can participate equally at al levels of society from the local to the global. The cosmopolitan or privileged national moves freely and, from a secure vantage point, is at home anywhere. However what I suggest in this paper is that there is a darker dimension, which is too easily forgotten in the celebratory figures of the cosmopolitan based on unfettered movement and consumption of places. There is another cosmopolitan figure which draws upon an ambiguous historical baggage where the rootless and flexible outsider was treated with suspicion and hostility. In 20th century Europe, cosmopolitanism often epitomised the Jew with divided allegiances and little attachment to the land, and more often at home in the city, unlike indigenous populations. Today the fear of divided loyalties and transnational political participation falls in particular upon Europe's Muslim populations, who must demonstrate that they are not cosmopolitan. Thus what is interpreted positively in the privileged national is deemed to be negative and problematic in the migrant. |
Keywords | cultural identity; national identity |
Publisher | Routledge |
Journal | Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research |
ISSN | 1351-1610 |
Electronic | 1469-8412 |
Publication dates | |
2005 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 10 Mar 2010 |
Output status | Published |
Additional information | Special issue on Europe and Cosmopolitanism. |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/1351161042000334808 |
Scopus EID | 2-s2.0-15944429346 |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/82562
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