The word 'Cosmopolitan' comes "with a certain pedigree, a certain amount of baggage." (Brookes)
Most people think the following when they first hear the word "cosmopolitan". They believe "that cosmopolitanism [is] something very elitist, [meaning] a kind of free-floating attitude of the rich person who can afford to travel all over the world tasting a little bit of this culture and that one and not being very responsible about any of it." (KA Appiah, Mother Jones Interview). However, in its essence, a cosmopolitan is someone who is truly a world citizen. Thus, the term should be used exclusively to identify someone who is deeply concerned about the world community as a whole, demonstrating both care and respect for all humans around the globe regardless of their geographical origin.
"Enlightenment cosmopolitans such as Kant believed that human beings could reduce harm over centuries of progress in which they come to see themselves as dual citizens: as members of their respective states and participants in a wider community of humankind." (Linklater, "Citizenship, Humanity, and Cosmopolitan Harm Conventions)
As members of our modern society, we have a tendency to memorialize. In fact, this is something that is part of our own cosmopolitan behavior. We tend to memorialize people, places, and events. We want to remember their motivations and goals, whilst celebrating their importance to our global society. Just like in "Open City", when Julius roams around NYC searching for a meaning, we often times find the answers we are looking for by understanding the sentiments expressed in memorials.
"It is not a matter of creating a single world government, but of living together as a global tribe" - (Kwame Anthony Appiah, El País Interview)
" Each person you know about and can affect is someone to whom you have responsibilities: to say this is just to affirm the very idea of morality." (Appiah,"Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers")
Values
Global Cities & Cosmopolitanism
"Successful global cities pay attention to their local economy and they nurture cosmopolitan values to ensure long-term economic and political success." ("Why Global Cities")
"We have to begin finding ways of dismantling this form of society that actively and passively organizes mass death and then, at the faintest flash of humane behavior, throws itself into paroxysms of self-congratulation." (Teju Cole, Migrants Welcome)
Credits:
All pictures and images created, photographed, and digitally manipulated by Vinicius P. Guerra.