Cosmopolitanism Beyond Mottos: Cosmopolitan Representation in Global Protests. Issue 5 (29th July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Caraus, Tamara
• Is Part Of: Globalizations. Volume 14:Issue 5(2017)
• Page Start: 730
• Page End: 745
• Publication Date: 2017-07-29
• Subjects: cosmopolitanism -- protest -- participation -- representation -- cosmopolitan representation; Globalization -- Periodicals; 327.17
• DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2016.1217617
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1474-7731

Abstract

Abstract: This paper analyses a common feature of slogans generated by the protest movements from the last two decades—the frequency of the words 'we' and 'the world'—as a perennial aspiration of cosmopolitanism: the belonging of all to the same world. The first section of the paper examines the inescapability of representation in a protest with a participatory framing, arguing that representation re-enters the scene of protest through the postulation of a 'we', mainly in the discursive form of manifestos, declarations, and slogans. The second part examines briefly the context of the movements that generated cosmopolitan representative claims by postulating a 'we' in relation to the 'whole world', 'earth', 'planet', 'future of humanity', etc. The third section analyses the ways of constructing a cosmopolitan 'we' and of enacting a cosmopolitan representative claim. Conclusions show how the cosmopolitan representative claim is a resource of a non-totalizing cosmopolitanism.