Community, Cosmopolitanism and the Problem of Human Commonality

Book excerpt: Globalization has dislocated community relations, and yet notions of community remain central to our sense of who we are. This book examines the changing nature of community through an exploration of mobile subjects, such as migrants and business travelers, and the tension between culturally specific notions of identity and a universal sense of humanity. The authors develop a "cosmopolitan anthropology" which engages with both the specific and the universal. Community, Cosmopolitanism and the Problem of Human Commonality offers a new perspective on community through a dialogue between two eminent anthropologists, who come from distinct, but complementary, positions.