ABSTRACT
The association of ethnic groups with cosmopolitanism seems to be fraught with internal contradictions. It is hard to reconcile communitarianism and universalism, spatial boundedness and multilocality, organized culture and an eclectic and open disposition. Senegalese Murids constitute a successful trade diaspora and display many of the characteristics, such as linguistic proficiency and commercial networks. The problematic relation to locality as a factor which fosters what I have been calling the 'internal dialectics' of actually-existing cosmopolitanisms cannot be seen in isolation. The case of Sindhis is more complex. In the case of Sindhis a number of variables such as caste and divergent histories of mobility have left individuals and families within the ethnic group in very different structural positions. The structural differences also mean the production of different spatializing discourses and practices. On a global level, for instance, Sindhis have shown a marked reluctance to engage with local politics.
