Cosmoliteratures: Cosmopolitanisms in Literatures, Literatures in Cosmopolitanisms

Edited by Rui Sousa Edited by Soraya Nour Sckell

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Extent: 137 pages

Publisher: Duncker & Humblot

Subjects: Literary Studies, Philosophy, Social Sciences 

Series: Beiträge zur Politischen Wissenschaft

Series volume number: 208

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(April 2025)

ISBN: 9783428188048

6.18 x 9.17 inches

Price: $82.00

In stock

Cosmopolitanism aspires to openness and universality, yet it is fraught with contradictions. While seeking to transcend borders, it has often concealed exclusions and hierarchies. This volume explores these tensions through literature and political philosophy, examining how writers and philosophers – from Camoes to Woolf and Conrad, from Kant to Appiah – have engaged with belonging, power, and identity. Rather than a fixed ideal, cosmopolitanism emerges as a contested space, shaped by both connection and inequality.


English summary: Cosmopolitanism aspires to openness and universality, yet it is fraught with contradictions. While seeking to transcend borders, it has often concealed exclusions and hierarchies. This volume explores these tensions through literature and political philosophy, examining how writers and philosophers – from Camoes to Woolf and Conrad, from Kant to Appiah – have engaged with belonging, power, and identity. Rather than a fixed ideal, cosmopolitanism emerges as a contested space, shaped by both connection and inequality. German description: Cosmopolitanism has often been regarded as an ideal of openness, dialogue, and universality, yet it remains fraught with contradictions. While aspiring to transcend borders and affirm a shared human condition, it has frequently been entangled with histories of exclusion, imperialism, and uneven power dynamics. This volume brings together perspectives from literature and political philosophy to critically examine the tensions at the heart of cosmopolitan thought.In literature, cosmopolitanism appears as both a promise and a paradox – expressed through narratives that celebrate cultural encounters but also expose hierarchies and asymmetries. From Camoes to Woolf and Conrad, writers have explored the complexities of belonging, displacement, and the limits of global exchange. Their works reflect the ambivalence of a cosmopolitan imagination that both embraces and questions the possibilities of interconnectedness.In political philosophy, the debate extends to issues of citizenship, law, and democracy: to what extent can cosmopolitan ideals challenge national frameworks, and where do they risk reinforcing exclusion under the guise of universality? Thinkers from Kant to Appiah have interrogated the ethical and political dilemmas of cosmopolitanism, revealing its potential to expand solidarity beyond borders while also highlighting its structural limitations. Rather than presenting a singular vision, this book explores cosmopolitanism as a site of tension – between openness and exclusion, universality and particularity, theory and lived experience. By confronting these contradictions, it invites a deeper reflection on the possibilities and limits of a world shaped by interconnected yet unequal histories.

"Nuno Miguel Proenca The Lusiads effect: a Tension Towards Imperialism or Cosmopolitanism? Pedro Antonio Monteiro Franco The Ambiguous Cosmopolitanism of Joseph Conrad A Reading of Heart of Darkness Marco Bucaioni How Do You Say Afropolitan in Portuguese? African Literatures, Black-Portuguese Literature and Afropolitanism Sara Fernandes Virginia Wolf & the Cosmopolitan Self Soraya Nour Sckell The Invention of the Self and of the Cosmos: Cosmology and Poetics of the Self in the Work of Paulo Cardoso Marcio Suzuki What Does it Mean to be Cosmopolitan? A Note on the History of the Concept Helena Inacio The Global Constitutionalization Undertaken by the United Nations Lasha Kharazi Univocity and Cosmopolitanism Pedro Antonio Franco Tradition and Cosmopolitanism in Alasdair MacIntyre and Kwame Anthony Appiah Marco Russo A Broad-Minded Way of Thinking. Cosmological Perspectives in Kantian Cosmopolitanism ", Nuno Miguel Proença
The »Lusiads effect«: a Tension Towards Imperialism or Cosmopolitanism?

Pedro António Monteiro Franco
The Ambiguous Cosmopolitanism of Joseph Conrad A Reading of Heart of Darkness

Marco Bucaioni
How Do You Say »Afropolitan« in Portuguese? African Literatures, Black-Portuguese Literature and Afropolitanism

Sara Fernandes
Virginia Wolf & the Cosmopolitan Self

Soraya Nour Sckell
The Invention of the Self and of the Cosmos: Cosmology and Poetics of the Self in the Work of Paulo Cardoso

Márcio Suzuki
What Does it Mean to be Cosmopolitan? A Note on the History of the Concept

Helena Inácio
The Global Constitutionalization Undertaken by the United Nations

Lasha Kharazi
Univocity and Cosmopolitanism

Pedro António Franco
Tradition and Cosmopolitanism in Alasdair MacIntyre and Kwame Anthony Appiah

Marco Russo
A Broad-Minded Way of Thinking. Cosmological Perspectives in Kantian Cosmopolitanism

  • Edited by Rui Sousa
  • Edited by Soraya Nour Sckell