Cosmos and Polis, Past and Present

Abstract

His research concerns cultural and political change at the global and local levels. His case studies include historical change in Guam and Germany, and the work of independent international commissions.

Debate

“…The expression ‘cosmopolitan’ is thus an oxymoron that was meant as an ironic commentary. By contrasting the human and divine orders, Diogenes tried to expose the insignificance and pettiness of the human order (see Stade , ). Diogenes of Sinope gave expression to an existential perspective in which irony and cosmopolitanism coincide, as can be seen in the following diagram:

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“…Alienation is a type of relation rather than a non‐relation. It is the kind of relationship between self and world that Diogenes of Sinope referred to when he coined the expression ‘cosmopolitan’: instead of striving for the privilege of being a citizen of a polis like Athens, he declared himself a citizen of the universe or of nature (see Stade ; Rapport and Stade ). Diogenes was alienated from and hence in relation to others.…”

A cosmopolitan turn - or return?

“…In anthropology we are witness to a flurry of researches, writing and conferring. We meet ‘cosmopolitans and locals’ (Hannerz 1990), ‘pre‐modern and modern cosmopolitans’ (Stade 2006), ‘working‐class cosmopolitans’ (Werbner 1999), Caribbean cosmopolitans (Wardle 2000), Chinese cosmopolitans (Ong 1998), ‘cosmopolitan patriots’ (Appiah 1998), plural discrepant cosmopolitanisms (Clifford 1998), and cosmopolitan cityscapes (Rapport 2006a). The 2006 ASA conference (Association of Social Anthropologists of the Commonwealth) took cosmopolitanism as its central theme, as did the 2007 CASCA conference (Canadian Anthropology Society).…”

“…Considering the ancientness of the concept, it is not surprising to find that over the centuries it has been charged with diverse meanings (see, e.g. Carter 2001; Stade 2006). Nigel Rapport argues passionately for one of these meanings, namely cosmopolitanism as a critique of ontologies, methodologies, ethics and politics that presuppose collectively secured life‐worlds as the foundation of human existence.…”