The theme of this special issue is the necessity of a cosmopolitan turn in social and political theory. The question at the heart of this introductory chapter takes the challenge of ‘methodological cosmopolitanism’, already addressed in a Special Issue on Cosmopolitan Sociology in this journal (Beck and Sznaider 2006), an important step further: How can social and political theory be opened up, theoretically as well as methodologically and normatively, to a historically new, entangled Modernity which threatens its own foundations? How can it account for the fundamental fragility, the mutability of societal dynamics (of unintended side-effects, domination and power), shaped by the globalization of capital and risks at the beginning of the twenty-first century? What theoretical and methodological problems arise and how can they be addressed in empirical research? In the following, we will develop this ‘cosmopolitan turn’ in four steps: firstly, we present the major conceptual tools for a theory of cosmopolitan modernities; secondly, we de-construct Western modernity by using examples taken from research on individualization and risk; thirdly, we address the key problem of methodological cosmopolitanism, namely the problem of defining the appropriate unit of analysis; and finally, we discuss normative questions, perspectives, and dilemmas of a theory of cosmopolitan modernities, in particular problems of political agency and prospects of political realization.

Varieties of second modernity: the cosmopolitan turn in social and political theory and research.

Jan Vansina s 1961 book, \"Oral Tradition,\" was hailed internationally as a pioneering work in the field of ethno-history. Originally published in French, it was translated into English, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Hungarian. Reviewers were unanimous in their praise of Vansina s success in subjecting oral traditions to intense functional analysis. Now, Vansina with the benefit of two decades of additional thought and research has revised his original work substantially, completely rewriting some sections and adding much new material. The result is an essentially new work, indispensable to all students and scholars of history, anthropology, folklore, and ethno-history who are concerned with the transmission and potential uses of oral material. Those embarking on the challenging adventure of historical fieldwork with an oral community will find the book a valuable companion, filled with good practical advice. Those who already have collected bodies of oral material, or who strive to interpret and analyze that collected by others, will be forced to subject their own methodological approaches to a critical reexamination in the light of Vansina s thoughtful and provocative insights. . . . For the second time in a quarter of a century, we are profoundly in the debt of Jan Vansina. \"Research in African Literatures\" Oral Traditions as History is an essential addition to the basic literature of African history. \"American Historical Review\"\

Oral Tradition as History

Cosmopolitan sociology has tackled broad themes like risk, family, religion, power, war, inequality, memory, and civil society movements exploring their reconfiguration in the global age. Tellingly, the concept of the national is often perceived, both in public and scientific discourse as the central obstacle for the realization of cosmopolitan orientations. Consequently, debates about the nation tend to revolve around its persistence or its demise. We depart from this either-or perspective by investigating the formation of the cosmopolitanized nations' as a facet of world risk society. This re-imagination of nationhood evolves, among other things, in the context of global norms (e.g. human rights), globalized markets, transnational migrations and embeddedness in international organizations. Here we focus on a mechanism involving the promulgation of 'risk societies'. Modern collectivities are increasingly preoccupied with debating, preventing and managing risks. However, unlike earlier manifestations of risk characterized by daring actions or predictability models, global risks cannot be calculated or forecast anymore. Accordingly, more influence accrues to the perception of risk, largely constructed by media representations of disasters. In a first step we distinguish between a normative cosmopolitanism and analytic cosmopolitization processes. The cosmopolitanized nations, we argue, reflect a new mode of collective identification, whereby we differentiate between presumptions of thick belonging and the actual proliferation of cosmopolitan affiliations. This leads to a gradual distinction between a conventional (and naturalized) view of the national and an emerging figuration of cosmopolitan nationhood. In a second step we overcome the territorial fixation of the social sciences by shifting our attention to temporal dimensions, with a particular focus on competing conceptions of the future. Our findings suggest that cosmopolitanized nations are reimagined through the anticipation of endangered futures. In a third step we demonstrate how these cosmopolitan transformations of nationhood are taking place in the context of the emergence of a world risk society regime that marshalls a set of cosmopolitan imperatives situating the global other in our midst. In a fourth step we illustrate these developments by exploring how the mediatization of risk, and concomitant notions of the future contribute to the re-imagination of cosmopolitan risk collectivities.

https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00795250/document

Cosmopolitanized Nations: Re-imagining Collectivity in World Risk Society

Building on Mouffe’s critique of cosmopolitanism, this article argues that a cosmopolitan mode of remembering, far from having superseded the antagonistic mode associated with ‘first modernity’ in the European context, has proved unable to prevent the rise of, and is being increasingly challenged by, new antagonistic collective memories constructed by populist neo-nationalist movements. This article outlines the main defining characteristics of a third ‘agonistic’ mode of remembering, which is both reflexive and dialogic, yet also relies upon politicized representations of past conflicts, acknowledging civic and political passions as well as individual and collective agency.

On agonistic memory

Zusammenfassung: Die Kernfragen dieses einleitenden Aufsatzes lauten: Wie konnen Gesellschaftsund Politiktheorie theoretisch, methodologisch und empirisch fur eine historisch neue, „verflochtene“ Moderne geoffnet werden, die ihre eigenen Grundlagen aufhebt? Wie kann die Theorie die fundamentale Zerbrechlichkeit und Wandelbarkeit der gesellschaftlichen Dynamiken (unbeabsichtigte Nebenfolgen, Herrschaft und Macht) erschliesen, die am Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts von der Globalisierung von Kapital und Risiken ausgehen? Was meint „methodologischer Nationalismus“, welche theoretischen und methodologischen Probleme entstehen hier, und wie kann die theoretische und empirische Forschung sich fur diese offnen? Im Folgenden entwickeln wir diese „kosmopolitische Wende” in der soziologischen und politischen Theorie und Forschung in vier Schritten: Zunachst prasentieren wir die wichtigsten begrifflichen Werkzeuge einer Theorie der kosmopolitischen Modernen; danach de-konstruieren und re-definieren wir das Modell westlicher Modernisierung anhand von Beispielen aus der Forschung uber Individualisierung und Risiko; drittens greifen wir das Schlusselproblem des methodologischen Kosmopolitismus auf, namlich die Definition der angemessenen Untersuchungseinheit; und schlieslich diskutieren wir, viertens, Perspektiven und Dilemmata einer Theorie kosmopolitischer Modernen, insbesondere Probleme des Adressatenbezugs und des politischen Handelns.

/pdf/jenseits-des-methodologischen-nationalismus-384zhhz27s.pdf

Jenseits des methodologischen Nationalismus

In this article we examine the cosmopolitanization of national memory cultures as a matter of reflexive particularism, referring to negotiations over 'the national' driven by the endogenization of European norms and discourses. Reflexive particularism emerges from a historically specific memory imperative that issues two demands - first, that national polities reckon with the Other, and second, that they engage with, critique and challenge exclusionary or heroic modes of nationalism. Our findings, based on the analysis of official discourse and 60 open group discussions conducted in Austria, Germany and Poland, suggest that reflexive particularism is manifested in an ongoing negotiation between variable modes of national belonging and cosmopolitan orientations toward the supranational or pan-European. More spe- cifically, reflexive particularism is expressed in co-evolving articulations of Euro- peanness and shared European memory practices that include: affirmative and ambivalent perspectives; sceptical narratives about nationhood (for example those that emphasize legacies of perpetratorship); and a disposition to (ex)change perspectives and recognize the claims of Others.

Reflexive particularism and cosmopolitanization: the reconfiguration of the national

Die Sozialität des Erinnerns

This article argues that home relates not so much to a fixed and clearly bounded spatial “being” but can be understood as a “becoming,” that is, a set of spatial and temporal practices and experien...

Moving Homes From House to Nursing Home and the (Un-)Canniness of Being at Home

Die Erfindung der Erinnerung : deutsche Kriegskindheiten im Gedächtnis der Gegenwart

Das Trauma der deutschen Kriegskinder zwischen nationaler und europäischer Erinnerung: Kritische Anmerkungen zum gegenwärtigen Wandel der Erinnerungskultur

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