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With apologies for cross-postings... 

Call for papers 

AAG 2005: April 5-9, Denver 

Rethinking Cosmopolitan Identities

Last call for papers...

We are organising a session for the next AAG meeting on cosmopolitan
identities, and would like to hear from people interested in presenting.
Please note that abstracts need to be registered by October 21st... 

There has been increased interest within geography in the theme of
cosmopolitan identities (Held, 1990; Gidwani and Shivaramakrishnan,
2003). Reflecting this emerging research area, this session explores why
people in different settings construct themselves as "cosmopolitan."
Rather than focusing on transnational cosmopolitans, as much research
seems to, we would like to explore how "local" people in various parts
of the world (such as India) imagine themselves as cosmopolitan and the
politics of these imaginings (c.f. Gidwani and Shivaramakrishnan, 2003).
Contributors might for example, investigate the connections between
cosmopolitan identities and notions of citizenship, education,
development, or political resistance. Similarly, rather than assuming
that ideas of "being cosmopolitan" depend upon transnational cultural
styles, papers might reflect on the diverse means through which people
develop ideas of themselves as cosmopolitan": for example through
advertising their ability to traverse boundaries between the 'modern'
and 'traditional' or through making claims to possess particular
knowledges regarding politics, development or the state. We particularly
encourage papers that combine theoretical reflection with ethnographic
field research and that provide a counterpoint to work on transnational
elites. 

Please reply be email to Colin... 

Organisers: 
Craig Jeffrey, Lecturer in Human Geography, Department of Geography,
University of Edinburgh. Email: [log in to unmask]

Colin McFarlane, Postdoctoral Fellow, Geography, Open University. Email:
[log in to unmask]