Skip to main content

“I’m a Citizen of the World”: Cosmopolitanism and Identity Work in the Telling of Migration Stories

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 496 Accesses

Part of the book series: Europe in a Global Context ((EGC))

Abstract

There are countless competing definitions of globalization, but in its simplest sense we can understand it as the “widening, deepening and speeding up of global interconnectedness” (Held et al. 1999: 2). Although the intensified worldwide ties associated with globalization are often primarily considered from an economic standpoint (see, for example, Castells 1996; McMichael 2017), they can also be understood from social and political perspectives in which “events, decisions, and activities in one part of the world come to have significant consequences for individuals and communities in quite distant parts of the globe” (McGrew 1992: 23). In this understanding, globalization has brought about a massive transformation in social and political relations and has impacted the ways in which we think about a variety of phenomena from nation-states, citizenship and borders to capitalism, the environment consumption and the ways we communicate (Delanty 2009). Indeed, as Delanty (2009: 1) notes, “virtually the entire span of human experience is in one way or the other influenced by globalization.” To this regard, human migration and globalization are often seen as phenomena that go hand in hand.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Notes

  1. 1.

    Defined here as persons residing in a country other than that of their birth.

  2. 2.

    For a discussion of methodological nationalism see, for example, Chernilo (2006) and Wimmer and Glick Schiller (2003).

  3. 3.

    Both pseudonyms were selected by the research participants after the interviews.

  4. 4.

    A dozen interviews were conducted with members of a multicultural migrant association in Finland and another dozen with members of Finnish emigrant groups in the UK.

  5. 5.

    This understanding of identity as performative draws on insights from phenomenological sociology, in particular the Goffmanian notion of self-presentation (see, for example, Goffman 1959).

  6. 6.

    The numbers placed in parentheses indicate pauses in speech.

  7. 7.

    At the time that the interview was conducted the Finns Party (Perussuomalaiset)—a party with a strongly anti-immigration and cultural diversity agenda—had recently achieved its breakthrough success in the 2011 General Elections in which it became the third largest party. As a result, our interview featured several instances in which Risto raised the rising popularity of “immigration critical” actors and expressed concern about these trends.

References

  • Appiah, K. A. (1997). Cosmopolitan patriots. Critical Inquiry, 23(3), 617–639.

    Google Scholar 

  • Axford, B. (2013). Theories of globalization. Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Back, L. (2007). The art of listening. Oxford and New York: Berg Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauman, Z. (2011). Migration and identities in the globalized world. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 37(4), 425–435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2002a). Sociology and the second age of modernity. In S. Vertovec & R. Cohen (Eds.), Conceiving cosmopolitanism: Theory, context, and practice (pp. 61–85). Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2002b). The cosmopolitan society and its enemies. Theory, Culture & Society, 19(1–2), 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2006). The cosmopolitan vision. Cambridge and Malden: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U., & Grande, E. (2010). Varieties of second modernity: The cosmopolitan turn in social and political theory and research. The British Journal of Sociology, 61(3), 409–443.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U., & Sznaider, N. (2006). Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social sciences: A research agenda. The British Journal of Sociology, 57(1), 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M. (1996). Arguing and thinking: A rhetorical approach to social psychology (New ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig, M., et al. (1988). Ideological dilemmas: A social psychology of everyday thinking. London: Sage Publications Ltd..

    Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker, R. (1996). Nationalism reframed: Nationhood and the national question in the New Europe. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker, R. (2012). Categories of analysis and categories of practice: A note on the study of Muslims in European countries of immigration. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36, 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun, C. (2002). The class consciousness of frequent travelers: Toward a critique of actually existing cosmopolitanism. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 101(4), 869–897.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun, C. (2003). ‘Belonging’ in the cosmopolitan imaginary. Ethnicities, 3(4), 531–568.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (1996). The information age: Economy, society, and culture. Oxford and Malden: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chernilo, D. (2006). Social theory’s methodological nationalism: Myth and reality. European Journal of Social Theory, 9(1), 5–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Czaika, M., & de Haas, H. (2014). The globalization of migration: Has the world become more migratory? International Migration Review (IMR), 48(2), 283–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies, B., & Harré, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 20(1), 43–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delanty, G. (2009). The cosmopolitan imagination: The renewal of critical social theory. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faist, T. (2010). Diaspora and transnationalism: What kind of dance partners? In R. Baubock & T. Faist (Eds.), Diaspora and transnationalism: Concepts, theories and methods (pp. 9–33). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Favell, A. (2008). Eurostars and Eurocities: Free movement and mobility in an integrating Europe. Oxford and Malden: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Garden City: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannerz, U. (1996). Transnational connections: Culture, people, places. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, D. (2000). Cosmopolitanism and the banality of geographical evils. Public Culture, 12(2), 529–564.

    Google Scholar 

  • Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D., & Perraton, J. (1999). Global transformations: Politics, economics and culture. Oxford: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollway, W., & Jefferson, T. (2000). Doing qualitative research differently: Free association, narrative and the interview method. London and Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holton, R. J. (2009). Cosmopolitanisms: New thinking and new directions. Houndmills and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, J. D. (2016). Cosmopolitanism from below: Universalism as contestation. Critical Horizons, 17(1), 66–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keeley, B. (2009). International migration: The human face of globalisation. Paris: OECD Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, P. (2004). Making global society: Friendship networks among transnational professionals in the building design industry. Global Networks, 4(2), 157–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamont, M., & Aksartova, S. (2002). Ordinary cosmopolitanisms: Strategies for bridging boundaries among working-class men. Theory, Culture & Society, 19(4), 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, P. S. (2008). World migration in the age of globalization: Policy implications and challenges. New Zealand Population Review, 33(34), 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGrew, A. G. (1992). Conceptualizing global politics. In A. G. McGrew, P. G. Lewis, et al. (Eds.), Global politics: Globalization and the nation-state (pp. 1–29). Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMichael, P. (2017). Development and social change: A global perspective (6th ed.). London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishler, E. G. (1999). Storylines: Craftists’ narratives of identity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowicka, M., & Cieslik, A. (2013). Beyond methodological nationalism in insider research with migrants. Migration Studies, 3(2), 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orwell, G. (1968). Notes on nationalism. In S. Orwell & I. Angus (Eds.), The collected essays, journalism and letters of George Orwell, vol. 3 As I please: 1943–1945 (pp. 410–431). Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose, N. (1999). Governing the soul: The shaping of the private self (2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, G. (1993). Reconstruction of life stories: Principles of selection in generating stories for narrative biographical interviews. InThe narrative study of lives, vol. 1, The narrative study of lives (pp. 59–91). London and Newbury Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, G. (2004). Biographical research. In C. Seale, G. Gobo, J. F. Gubrium, & D. Silverman (Eds.), Qualitative research practice (pp. 48–64). London and Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skey, M. (2011). National belonging and everyday life: The significance of nationhood in an uncertain world. Houndmills and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skey, M. (2012). We need to talk about cosmopolitanism: The challenge of studying openness towards other people. Cultural Sociology, 6(4), 471–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. (2005). Self-narration as rehearsal: A discursive approach to narrative formation of identity. Narrative Inquiry, 15(1), 45–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. (2007). Narrative as construction and discursive resource. In M. Bamberg (Ed.), Narrative—State of the art, Benjamins current topics 6 (pp. 113–122). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. (2010). Narratives of identity and place. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. (2012). ‘One participant said …’: The implications of quotations from biographical talk. Qualitative Research, 12(4), 388–401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S., & Littleton, K. (2006). Biographies in talk: A narrative-discursive research approach. Qualitative Sociology Review, 2(1), 22–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomlinson, J. (1999). Globalization and culture. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2013). Population facts: The number of international migrants worldwide reaches 232 million. United Nations. Retrieved February 2, 2017, from https://esa.un.org/unmigration/documents/the_number_of_international_migrants.pdf

  • Vertovec, S. (2004). Cheap calls: The social glue of migrant transnationalism. Global Networks, 4(2), 219–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, A., & Glick Schiller, N. (2002). Methodological nationalism and beyond: Nation-state building, migration and the social sciences. Global Networks: A Journal of Transnational Affairs, 2(4), 301–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, A., & Glick Schiller, N. (2003). Methodological nationalism, the social sciences, and the study of migration: An essay in historical epistemology. International Migration Review (IMR), 37(3), 576–610.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise, A., & Velayutham, S. (2009). Multiculturalism and everyday life. In A. Wise & S. Velayutham (Eds.), Everyday multiculturalism (pp. 1–20). Houndmills and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Holley, P. (2018). “I’m a Citizen of the World”: Cosmopolitanism and Identity Work in the Telling of Migration Stories. In: Caselli, M., Gilardoni, G. (eds) Globalization, Supranational Dynamics and Local Experiences . Europe in a Global Context. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64075-4_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64075-4_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64074-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64075-4

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics