64 research outputs found
Imagining ânon-nationalityâ: Cosmopolitanism as a source of identity and belonging
Current literature tends to see cosmopolitan identity formation as an individual endeavour of developing a stance of openness, and transcending discourses of national and other cultural identities. This article challenges the essentialism inherent in this model by proposing a different framing of cosmopolitan identity formation that shifts the focus to how people collectively mobilize cosmopolitanism as a resource for cultural identity construction. The article is based on an anthropological study of transnational professionals who are part of a diverse expatriate community in Amsterdam. The analysis shows how these professionals draw on cosmopolitanism to define themselves as ânon-nationalsâ. This involves downplaying national affiliations and cultural differences while also marking national identity categories and âcultural featuresâ to maintain the difference they collectively embrace. This however does not imply openness to all otherness. Boundary drawing to demarcate the cosmopolitan âusâ in relation to national (mono)culture is equally important. The article argues that cosmopolitan identities are socially accomplished as particular modes of collective belonging that are part of â not beyond â a global discursive sphere of identity politics
âAgainst the Dog Only a Dogâ. Talking Canines Civilizing Cynicism in Cervantesâ âcoloquio de los perrosâ (With Tentative Remarks on the Discourse and Method of Animal Studies)
Deriving its designation from the Greek word for âdogâ, cynicism is likely the
only philosophical âinterest groupâ with a diachronically dependable affinity
for various animalsâparticularly those of the canine kind. While dogs have met
with differing value judgments, chiefly along a perceived humanâanimal divide,
it is specifically discourses with cynical affinities that render problematic
this transitional field. The Cervantine âcoloquio de los perrosâ has received
scholarly attention for its (caninely) picaresque themes, its âcynomorphicâ
(Ziolkowski) narratological technique, its socio-historically informative
accounts relating to Early Modern Europe and the Iberian peninsula, including
its âzoopoeticallyâ (Derrida) relevant portrayal of dogs (see e.g., Alves,
Beusterien, MartĂn); nor did the dialogâs mention of cynical snarling go
unnoticed. The essay at hand commences with a chapter on questions of method
pertaining to âanimal narrationâ: with recourse to Montaigne, Descartes, and
Derrida, this first part serves to situate the ensuing close readings with
respect to the field of Animal Studies. The analysis of the Cervantine texts
synergizes thematic and narratological aspects at the discourse historical
level; it commences with a brief synopsis of the respective novellas in part
2; Section 3, Section 4 and Section 5 supply a description of the rhetorical
modes of crafting plausibility in the framework narrative (âThe Deceitful
Marriageâ), of pertinent (Scriptural) intertexts for the âColloquyâ. Parts 6â7
demonstrate that the choice of canine interlocutors as narrating agenciesâand
specifically in their capacity as dogsâis discursively motivated: no other
animal than this animal, and precisely as animal, would here serve the
discursive purpose that is concurrently present with the literal plane; for
this dialogic novella partakes of a (predominantly Stoicizing) tradition
attempting to resocialize the Cynics, which commences already with the
appearance of the Ancient arch-Cynic âDiogenesâ on the scene. At the
discursive level, a diachronic contextualization evinces that the Cervantine
text takes up and outperforms those rhetorical techniques of reintegration by
melding Christian, Platonic, Stoicizing elements with such as are reminiscent
of Diogenical ones. Reallocating Blumenbergâs reading of a notorious Goethean
dictum, this essay submits the formula âagainst the Dog only a dogâ as a
concise précis of the Cervantine method at the discursive level, attained to
via a decidedly pluralized rhetorical sermocination featuring, at a literal
level, specifically canine narrators in a dialogic setting
THE SKEPTICAL CARTESIAN BACKGROUND OF HUME'S "OF THE ACADEMICAL OR SCEPTICAL PHILOSOPHY" (FIRST INQUIRY, SECTION 12)
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