We the Cosmopolitans: Moral and Existential Conditions of Being Human

195 Pages·2014·1.02 MB·English

by  Lisette Josephides

We the Cosmopolitans

W C
e the osmopolitans
Moral and Existential Conditions of Being Human
K
Edited By
Lisette Josephides and Alexandra Hall
First published in 2014 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
©2014 Lisette Josephides and Alexandra Hall
All rights reserved.
Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
We the cosmopolitans: moral and existential conditions of being human / edited by Lisette
Josephides and Alexandra Hall.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-78238-276-8 (hardback: alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-78238-277-5 (ebook)
1. Cosmopolitanism--Case studies. 2. Culture and globalization--Case studies. I. Josephides,
Lisette.
JZ1308.W42 2014 306--dc23
2013042950
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed on acid-free paper
ISBN: 978-1-78238-276-8 hardback
ISBN: 978-1-78238-277-5 ebook
C
ontents
Preface vii
Introduction: We the Cosmopolitans: Framing the Debate 1
Lisette Josephides
Chapter 1
Citizens of Everything: The Aporetics of Cosmopolitanism 29
Ronald Stade
Chapter 2
The Capacities of Anyone: Accommodating the Universal Human Subject
as Value and in Space 48
Nigel Rapport
Chapter 3
Cosmopolitan Morality in the British Immigration and Asylum System 68
Alexandra Hall
Chapter 4
Experiences of Pain: A Gateway to Cosmopolitan Subjectivity? 90
Anne Sigfrid Grønseth
Chapter 5
Cosmopolitanism as Welcoming the Other and Imperilling the Self:
Ethics and Early Encounters between Lyons Missionaries and
West African Rulers 111
Marc Schiltz
Chapter 6
The Cartoon Controversy and the Possibility of Cosmopolitanism 135
Thomas Hylland Eriksen
Conclusion
156
Alexandra Hall
Notes on Contributors 171
Index 173

p
refaCe
This volume is theoretically experimental. It takes a distinct approach to
cosmopolitanism, placing it within a context of existentialism and embedded
within ongoing projects of human sociality. Its attitude is deliberately and
challengingly universalist. Chapters by leading anthropologists explore
what cosmopolitanism means in the context of everyday life, viewing it
variously as an aspect of kindness and empathy, as tolerance, hospitality and
openness, as a defining feature of pan-human individuality. The chapters thus
advance an existential critique of abstract globalization discourse, turning to
cosmopolitanism as a political and moral project with important lived effects.
The book as a whole exemplifies a new trend to rediscover the philosophical
anthropology tradition and use this as a key to re-describe certain kinds of
social anthropological problems. While each chapter has a strong individual
position, together these positions are complementary.
As editors we discussed at length the division of labour in the writing of the
Introduction and the Conclusion. We envisaged that the Introduction would
begin with a backward glance at cosmopolitanism – its history, its provocations
and potential – but with the main concern of outlining how cosmopolitanism
speaks to the concerns arising from existentialism and the entailment of being
human. The Conclusion, on the other hand, would draw out the synergies and
complementary themes of the chapters in more detail, relating their distinct
positions to some broader ethical and political issues. These well-laid schemes
did not win over one reader, who suggested that we should consider reversing
the Introduction and the Conclusion. The current Introduction, the reader
commented, looked more like a complex and searching conclusion, while the
Conclusion looked more like a comprehensive introduction, clearer about what
is holding the book together; that is, an interest in reintroducing universal
human, ‘moral and existential’ themes into the centre of anthropological and
ethnographic discussion. The Introduction, on the other hand, cast out for
further perspectives and dialogues, thus making it a more satisfying ‘view beyond
the book’ once the chapters were read.
viii |
Preface
We tried to envisage these two chapters reversed but in the end decided to leave
it to the reader. Reader, please feel free to begin with the Conclusion and end with
the Introduction. And let us know which order is more satisfying.
We would like to thank our contributors and the editorial team at Berghahn,
and the anonymous reader whose supportive and thoughtful comments gave us the
final boost.
Lisette Josephides
Alex Hall
Introduction
W C
e the osmopolitans
Framing the Debate
Lisette Josephides
K
Introduction
In , Vasily Grossman’s epic Second World War novel set in the Soviet
Life and Fate
Union, he introduces a character known as the ‘holy innocent’. Following his re-
fusal to work on the building of the crematoria in the concentration camp in
which he was held, the holy innocent is executed, but manages to leave behind a
manifesto on what it is to be human. He singles out kindness as the quality that
is most truly human: an everyday, private, thoughtless, senseless, unwitnessed, even
stupid kindness, exemplified in the love and pity in the heart of ordinary people
for any living thing (Grossman 2006: 393). Identified as ‘powerful only while it
is powerless’, kindness is located outside any system of social and religious good
(ibid.: 392–93), and this is the secret of its invincibility (ibid.: 394). Human his-
tory, Grossman’s character concludes, is not the battle of good trying to overcome
evil; it is a battle ‘fought by a great evil struggling’ – ultimately unsuccessfully – ‘to
crush a small kernel of human kindness’ (ibid.: 394). Instead of obliterating this
kernel that defied evil, the flames of the crematoria had strengthened it. Of course,
the man died, but with his human spirit intact.
The personal and non-institutional character of kindness as a defining human
quality is echoed in discussions by Derrida and Ricoeur. They link forgiveness – a
‘crazy act’ that should not be conditional on repentance – to freedom from the
sovereignty of the state (Derrida 2001), and find it in ‘gestures incapable of being
transformed into institutions’ (Ricoeur 2004: 458). Thus forgiveness designates