Essay On Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism aims to dismantle essentialism and transcend individuals into hybrid entities where they can be ‘citizens of the world’ wherever positioned. These individuals live on the margins of societies; showing willingness to cross borders, interact with other people and nations, tapping into the cultures of other climes, accepting particularities, yet, holding on to their peculiar identity. But it is observed that so-called cosmopolitan nations and economies show colonizing tendencies than cosmopolitan ethos. They are set on acculturating diverse people into a uniform entity devoid of difference by recommending duplicate economic and social practices that would warrant developing nations and subjects acceptance into the union of the …show more content…
Undeniably, cosmopolitanism position itself against an essentialist’s parochial loyalty to a locale, race, religion and ethnicity, in a conscious agreement for the cogency of other validating structures. The cosmopolitan is thus an individual who fosters “a universal humanism that transcends regional particularism; the point at which the political becomes, by moral necessity cosmopolitan” (Cheah 23). Based on this doctrine, the cosmopolitan is therefore on the margins of society, showing willingness to interact with other people from other places. Being on the margin designate a readiness not only tolerate, but accept the peculiarities of others and try to understand them. Hannerz thus, describes cosmopolitan actions as a matter of “competence…a state of readiness, a personal ability to make one’s way into other cultures” (239). This is so because as social beings, humans are imbued with the need to relate with each other, and in doing so they contaminate each other. This continuous process collapses the individual’s mono-visional prism and can advance the cause of humanity as a