Immanent Frame contributor Justin Neuman has organized a seminar on the topic of Cosmopolitanism and Religion, which will take place at this years meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association in New Orleans, LA. Paper proposals are to be submitted by 10 November. From the ACLA website:
Is being religious compatible with being cosmopolitan? How do religious practices, communities, and beliefs enable or restrict transnational forms of attachment or political action? How are modes of religious travel in various historical periods (evangelical, missionary, pilgrimage, or otherwise) related to forms of transnationalism more readily recognized as cosmopolitan? How have religious communities and individuals made use of cosmopolitan rhetoric or networks? Following the new wave of cosmopolitan theory, cosmopolitanism has come to signify more than a rejection of nationalism in favor of world citizenship. But, because cosmopolitanism has been conceived by and large as an alternative to territorial forms of belonging, like nationalism and patriotism, religious affinities continue to pose a stumbling block for a range of cosmopolitan theories and practices. To take but one example, is the universalism preached by the Apostle Paul an archetype for “thinking and feeling beyond the nation” (as Cheah and Robbins define cosmopolitanism)? Or is it better understood as a rejection of “pluralism” and “fallibilism” (the defining traits of cosmopolitanism for Appiah)? This panel seeks to investigate the connections and tensions between religion and cosmopolitanism through a range of concrete literary examples. The papers presented in this panel will inform our broader debates about cosmopolitan theory past and present.
See here for more information, to register for the meeting, or to submit a proposal.