Gender performance and cosmopolitan practice: exploring gendered frames of openness and hospitality

Abstract

Critiques of cosmopolitanism theory argue that the concept is premised on implicit assumptions of a masculine global citizen, replete with privileged access to various mobile and symbolic forms of social advantage. In response, empirical accounts of cosmopolitanism have explored the impact of class, education, and ethnicity on cosmopolitan practices. Yet, little direct empirical attention is given to whether and how men and women might differently understand and frame cultural diversity. We argue that to the extent that cosmopolitanism is constituted by social practices, scripts and repertoires of discursive narrativization, it is likely to be navigated and applied through gender-ideologies. Applying the methodological concept of cognitive schema to a set of qualitative data, and focusing on expressions of hospitality towards others within local communities, we inductively assemble evidence to show that men and women have differently articulated cosmopolitan imaginations. In conclusion, we consider what our empirical attention to gender might mean for how we advance critical theories of cosmopolitanism.

Transnational solidarity, the refugees and open societies in Europe

“…While the reach of such moral obligation is global, it is not necessarily post-national, as it does not replace nation-states but is enacted by complementary, supra-national institutions (Habermas, 2004). 5 Importantly, feminist cosmopolitan perspectives help to address how the national understanding of solidarity obscures gendered apprehension of human rights, relations of obligations and a sense of reciprocity (Høy-Petersen et al, 2016; Reilly, 2007). Taking gender seriously implies rejecting an ethnic-homogeneous territorial understanding of belonging which equates difference with cultural otherness (Vieten, 2012).…”

Everyday Cosmopolitanism in Representations of Europe among Young Romanians in Britain

“…Everyday cosmopolitanism is intrinsically linked with processes of identity. Cosmopolitan identities are discursively constructed, and they intersect with other social categorisations, such as class (Calhoun, 2002; Sklair, 2001), sexuality (Binnie and Skeggs, 2004) and gender (Høy-Petersen et al, 2016). Considering the intersections between cosmopolitanism and social class, it can be argued that social representations of cosmopolitanism can exclude the working classes that are seen as local (see Hannerz, 1990).…”

Working with difference: Cognitive schemas, ethical cosmopolitanism and negotiating cultural diversity

“…In Nava’s terms, these constitute forms of ‘everyday cosmopolitanism and the socio-emotional aspects of anti-racism ’ (2002: 89). The second narrative scheme, which draws on technical, legalistic and abstract meaning frames, often referring to political, economic, legal and governmental discourses related to matters of immigration, multiculturalism and Otherness, indicates when interview participants are employing knowledge-based cognitive strategies to manage their engagements with difference (see Høy-Petersen et al, 2016). Rather than identifying cross-cultural human similarities, defining ethical cosmopolitan openness and its limits centres on reflexive reasoning and the ability to knit together pieces of information drawn from various discourses in order to construct the Other as being either ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘worthy’ or ‘unworthy’, regardless of being similar or different.…”