International Conference
organised by Prof. Dr. Matthias Christen & Dr. Kathrin Rothemund
3.-5. April 2014 at the University of Bayreuth/Germany
The conference program can be downloaded
here.
Moving unfettered between nations, markets and identities in a globalized world, the cosmopolitan has become a key trope of contemporary identity formation. Being all in one an anthropological assertion, a moral ideal and a political agenda, cosmopolitanism has proven itself to be an intellectually highly prolific concept across disciplinary boundaries. It offers a new take on the flows of people, money and ideas, circulating between nations and continents, as well as on the negotiation of cultural difference. Taking up the notion of a world society as sketched out in the Age of Enlightenment, current debates on cosmopolitanism stress the moral and political obligations towards Others. It positions groups and individuals, rather than nation states, as agents to the fore of cultural and political reasoning. Inspired by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant the idea of a world history aimed at the establishment of a concordant world society implies a utopian stance by providing a counter-offer to real world hegemonic structures in times of globalization. However, while legal, political and civic varieties of cosmopolitanism have been discussed intensively over the last years, a province, being particularly prone to utopianism, still plays a rather marginal role: the arts in general and cinema in particular.
