berghahn New York · Oxford

Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION: INTENT AND STRUCTURE

A cosmopolitan project
‘Everyman’ and ‘Anyone’
Singular values
Cosmopolitanism and liberalis
Category-thinking and politeness
Dead dogma?
Envoi

PART 1. COSMOPOLITANISM AND COSMOPOLIS: DEFINITIONS AND ISSUES

1.1 A History and Overview

Founding moments
Contemporary Voices and Issues
Cosmopolitanism is a specific kind of morality
Cosmopolitanism is a specific kind of normative programme
Cosmopolitanism is a specific kind of social condition
Cosmopolitanism is a specific kind of attitude or orientation
The cosmopolitan is a specific kind of actor
Anthropological Critiques
Epistemological critique of cosmopolitanism
Real-political critique of cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanisms

1.2 A Cosmopolitan Project for Anthropology

What cosmopolitanism is and what it is not
Multiculturalism, Utilitarianism, Globalization, Pluralism
Human universalism and cultural diversity
Voluntarism and community belonging
The fluidity of experience
Cosmopolitan hope
Human Rights, World Cities, Worldwide Issues
Global governance
Cosmopolitan politesse

PART II: ‘MY NAME IS RICKEY HIRSCH’: A LIFE IN SIX ACTS, WITH MARGINALIA AND A CODA

Act I
Notes in the Margin I
Act II
Notes in the Margin II
Act III
Notes in the Margin III
Act IV
Notes in the Margin IV
Act V
Act VI
Coda

PART III: ANYONE IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY: EVIDENCING AND ENGAGING

3.1 Personal Truth, Subjectivity as Truth

Introduction
A Kierkegaardian excursus
Personal truth as political and physiological
Personal truth as physical environment
Nietzsche’s ‘night-time’ (Umnachtung)
Conclusion: The pragmatism of personal truth

3.2 Generality, Distortion and Gratuitousness

Introduction
Simmel’s distortions
Beyond Simmel
Generality and the route to human science
Modelling the one and the whole
Bodily characteristics as individual and general
Generality and the route to liberal society
Conclusion: Distortion revisited

3.3 Public and Private: Civility as Politesse

Introduction: ‘Politesse’
Politesse as naturally occurring
Anthropology and interactional routine
Anthropology and communication
Politesse as political policy
Anthropology and global society
Politesse as ethos of global becoming
Politesse as lived practice
Case-studies of complex society
Invitation to politesse
Conclusion: Good manners

AFTERWORD: JEWISH COSMOPOLITANISM

Jew, Israeli, Cosmopolitan

Bibliography
Index

Anyone

The Cosmopolitan Subject of Anthropology

Nigel Rapport

238 pages, 8 illus, bibliog., index

ISBN 978-0-85745-519-2 Hb Published (July 2012)

eISBN 978-0-85745-523-9
web ISBN 978-0-85745-523-9

Details

“Contributing to the rich and diverse literature on cosmopolitanism that has come out of the social sciences and humanities over the past decade and a half, Nigel Rapport offers us a robust discussion of the topic… While one of the several edited volumes published on cosmopolitanism during the past decade and a half might be a better first read for those unfamiliar with the topic, this book would serve as an excellent follow-up. In particular, this book will be of interest to scholars of cosmopolitanism, human rights, and contemporary anthropological theory.” · Anthropos

“This is an elegantly written and well-organised book on a subject whose star continues to rise. Those who are familiar with Rapport’s project will be anticipating its publication with some excitement. Those who are not familiar with his work are in for a treat in that this is the culmination of his work so far… He is an exceptional essayist and although each chapter might stand alone, together they form a considerable contribution which is significant both in terms of the theoretical and moral advance of the discipline.” · Peter Collins, Durham University

“The book is one of the first full-length monographs on the cosmopolitan project in anthropology, and should draw a wide readership…[It]is well researched and brings together a wealth of important scholarly sources. Readers stand to learn much from the discussion.” · Lisette Josephides, Queen’s University Belfast

The significance that people grant to their affiliations as members of nations, religions, classes, races, ethnicities and genders is evidence of the vital need for a cosmopolitan project that originates in the figure of Anyone – the universal and yet individual human being. Cosmopolitanism offers an alternative to multiculturalism, a different vision of identity, belonging, solidarity and justice, that avoids the seemingly intractable character of identity politics: it identifies samenesses of the human condition that underlie the surface differences of history, culture and society, nation, ethnicity, religion, class, race and gender. This book argues for the importance of cosmopolitanism as a theory of human being, as a methodology for social science and as a moral and political program.

Nigel Rapport is Professor of Anthropological and Philosophical Studies at the University of St. Andrews, where he directs the Centre for Cosmopolitan Studies. He has also held a Canada Research Chair in Globalization, Citizenship and Justice. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Related Link: Other titles by the author:
HUMAN NATURE AS CAPACITY
Transcending Discourse and Classification

Series: Volume 24, Methodology & History in Anthropology

Subject: Theory and Methodology

Area:

LC: GN33.R35 2012

BL: YC.2013.a.5243

BISAC: SOC002010 SOCIAL SCIENCE/Anthropology/Cultural & Social; SOC000000 SOCIAL SCIENCE/General; PHI000000 PHILOSOPHY/General

BIC: JHMC Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography; HP Philosophy