ABSTRACT

Cosmopolitanism is often associated with Enlightenment ideals and European elites who saw themselves as citizens of the world, opening up to the world, ready to traverse and go beyond the cultural borders of what their nation-states offered or dictated. Cosmopolitanism was thus typically conceived and read as a critique of nationalism, as a sign of openness and thus the normative defence of the idea of human capacity to expand the sphere of identification and belonging beyond national boundaries. In recent years, it has become ever-so fashionable to talk about cosmopolitanism as it came to save the social sciences from what some saw as the ‘debunked’ multicultural narratives on one hand, and naive universalism on the other. In this chapter, I will critically examine the juxtaposition of cosmopolitanism against multiculturalism before going on to redefine cosmopolitanism around three central notions, namely justice-based transnational solidarities, foreignization through translation, and unlearning. On this basis I will defend diasporic cosmopolitanism and argue that it is possible to find cosmopolitan engagement and sociability amongst diasporic Kurds, living in multicultural neighbourhoods of Europe’s cities. In so doing, I will hammer home the point that if cosmopolitanism is to be politically and theoretically rewarding, it must not only engage with multiculturalism seriously, but also recognize the openness, tolerance and justice oriented solidarities diasporic communities bring to, and demand from, Europe.