Six lessons for critical cosmopolitanism

[kat_lair]

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[A proper update will appear this weekend, but for now, have an extract from a book I skim-read recently for work reasons]

Six lessons for critical cosmopolitanism, from Plummer, K. (2015). Cosmopolitan Sexualities. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, p. 102.

1. “Be cautious of any colonising universalisms that are insensitive to difference. This even includes the notion of universal rights (the problem of universality-specificity).
2. Search for the bigger picture while always recognising multiplicities of standpoint (the dilemma of absolutism-relativism).
3. Use critical abstract theory for vision and understanding, but then always bring it down to earth to people’s everyday practical concerns and practices (the dilemma of abstraction-groundedness).
4. Be aware that ‘tolerance’ always works from a ‘superior’ position: and that this often brings a patronising stance (the tension of tolerance and arrogance).
5. Try to keep your hopes and dreams alive, while remaining practical and aware of inevitable failures and the dark side of life (remember the inevitability of disappointment; yet the importance of hope).
6. Always simultaneously keep your eyes on the wider visions of justice and inequalities, of the dangers of religious dogma and of violence; and beware of fanatics (the dilemmas of limits: we can never do it all).”

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Comments

[corvidology]

*puts on to read list*

[kat_lair]

I've really liked everything I've read by Ken Plummer and I don't claim to have read even close to everything. He's a big name in narrative research but also sexuality research. He's in his 70s now and this book read like a tour de force, peak of career/thinking monogram. A fascinating blend of impressive handle of diverse literature across disciplines and deeply critical humanistic and hopeful for a better world. https://www.essex.ac.uk/people/plumm44609/kenneth-plummer