Cosmopolitanism explored 21-24 June in Bergen

Is 'cosmopolitanism' a useful concept?

As the concept of ‘cosmopolitanism’ has become increasingly important in academic debates on diversity, the concept itself has taken on a wide array of meanings in a multitude of fields. As the meanings attributed to cosmopolitanism has expanded, however, analyses applying the concept are also criticised for their lack of specificity as to what exactly is the phenomena being discussed. Should it be relexicalized? Cut down to size? Taxonomized? Treated heuristically? Scrapped altogether? This conference aims to scrutinise this matter by throwing cosmopolitanism and the phenomena captured by this concept into sharp relief. The aim is to engage in a critical exploration of the possibilities and limitations entailed by the use of ‘cosmopolitanism’ as an analytical tool. Primarily, the conference will present empirically informed contributions of a theoretical nature, yet, by including scholars working in different parts of the world, and with a variety of topics, we simultaneously aim to contribute to the comparative study of cosmopolitanism.

Main questions to be explored at the conference are:

What kind of concept is cosmopolitanism? What can be captured by this concept? How does it relate to empirical realities? Which phenomena does it capture – and which does it obscure? We seek to explore these questions along four thematic lines: the cultural and aesthetic underpinnings of cosmopolitanism, religious diversity, colonial legacies and the production and contestation of ‘otherness’.

Conference participants

Marcy Brink-Danan, assistant professor at Judaic Studies and Anthropology, Brown University

P. J. Cherian, professor at the Kerala Council for Historical Research

Ian Coller, lecturer at the School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University

Steven Feld, professor at the Department of Music, University of New Mexico

Maja Povrzanovic Frykman, associate professor at the Department of Global Political Studies, University of Malmö

Devleena Ghosh, associate professor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney

Rachel Gillett, lecturer in History and Literature, Harvard University

Khalil M. Habib, associate professor at the Department of Philosophy, Salve Regina University

Eric Hirsch, reader at the Department of Social Anthropology, Brunel University

Julia Horne, university historian and senior research fellow at the Department of History, University of Sydney

Joel S. Kahn, professor emeritus at the School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University

Annemette Kirkegaard, associate professor at the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, Section of Musicology, University of Copenhagen

Nigel Rapport, professor at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews

Glenda Sluga, professor at the Department of History, University of Sydney

Huon Wardle, senior lecturer at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews

Pnina Werbner, professor emerita at the School of Sociology and Criminology, Keele University

The conference is hosted by Professor Vigdis Broch-Due and Associate Professor Kathinka Frøystad from the Department of Social Anthropology, UiB. Participation is by invitation only.