Call for Papers: Special Issue on Critical Cosmopolitanism - a South Asian Perspective

CALL FOR PAPERS   Critical Cosmopolitanism – a South Asian Perspective

Special Issue of Cosmopolitan Civil Societies

Guest Editors

Dr. Sunita Dhal, Associate Professor, SOGDS, IGNOU, New Delhi

Prof. Nilima Srivastava, Professor (Retd.), SOGDS, IGNOU, New Delhi

Dr. Linda Lane Senior Lecturer (Retd.), University of Gothenburg, Sweden 

 

We call for papers of between 6,000 and 8,000 words on the theme of the special issue, as outlined below.

The concept of cosmopolitanism originated in the moral and political philosophy of the social sciences. Understanding the range of issues related to globalization, transnational movements, indigenous identities, and the growth of the virtual and global community, cosmopolitanism has become a crucial theoretical stance in the social sciences. Although the concept is crucial for understanding universal principles, awareness, rights, and identities in political theory, cosmopolitanism has enabled social scientists to understand global issues from a local perspective (Delanty 2008). Delanty proposes the idea of critical cosmopolitanism to the study of society, which takes into account the function of social actors in various spheres of society.

In this proposed special issue/ volume, we would explore the notion of critical cosmopolitanism which either challenges and/or addresses the normative discourses of cosmopolitanism rooted within the western philosophical thoughts. The volume will primarily address the question how do we articulate the notion of critical cosmopolitanism in a changing global world from the perspective of scholars from South Asia.  Critical cosmopolitanism in the contemporary scenario refers to “cosmopolitanism from below” (Ingram, 2016; Kurasawa, 2004; Neilson, 1999), a term currently being used within a post-global context to interrogate the nexus between the local and global (Delanty, 2012).

Critical cosmopolitanism provides an analytical framework for addressing important challenges that affect people who are distanced from one another, such as ecological crises, social mobilisation, conflict, migration, poverty, and so on. Therefore, social actors continue to be a crucial analytical point for comprehending the new social environment, at least in the framework of critical cosmopolitanism, as they are the cornerstone of most social change. People all across the world have formed new ideas about themselves and the world they live in as a result of globalisation and the virtual world. Simultaneously, there is ample evidence of an increase in social movements, community involvement, and collective mobilisation that continuously define social realities with empathy and dedication to social challenges outside of one's own global and national contexts. We especially understand critical cosmopolitan as a conceptual category that is open to diverse viewpoints on social change, growth, and transition outside geographical boundaries, and we invite works on this topic to be included in this edition.

What and how various social actors, including civil society organisations, advocacy groups in digital space, peasants, indigenous groups, women, environmental activists, grassroots workers, and student community respond to important concerns to bring about social transformation in an era of growing mobility of ideas, cultures, goods, economic growth and accumulation of wealth. Different social actors at the local level have become imperative for maintaining stable life and identities amidst the growing challenges posed by globalisation and capitalism. Here, civil society can be referred to as actual participants in sustaining critical cosmopolitanism in trans-local and transnational contexts. For example, some of their practices may reinforce or adapt to newer ways of living and thinking, on the other hand, these social and non-western actors reaffirming the existing norms or structures in their local landscape. Therefore, research on cosmopolitanism needs to engage with the emergence and development of social actors and their role in the changing global realities. Various social actors including women cooperatives and NGOs enabling women to emerge as a “voice of change” at the local level might be seen as one of the components of critical cosmopolitanism.

With this background, our aim is to invite papers from South Asian scholars reflecting on the role of social actors who often silently work with their limited agency and resources to build new culture locally or transmit the local culture globally. This volume also considers research studies that concentrate on/ emerges from civil society and their involvement in addressing important local and global demands of the changing world.

This volume will invite papers on the following sub-themes:

• Development and function of civil society organisations in the context of globalisation and growing capitalism;
• Interface between local ecosystems and indigenous groups with regards to state/market-controlled resources
• Reclaiming the voice of grassroot workers in different sectors;
• Negotiation, resistance and engagement in digital space;
• Civil society groups focussing on women as a critical mass for change and rebuild their lives for betterment/Cosmopolitan feminism
• Policy-making agencies for initiating social change at the local level

Proposed Timeline:

Submission Date: 31^st December 2026 Submissions of between 6,000 and 8,000 words should be made to: https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/mcs/ Please read the author guidelines before making your submission.

Notification of Review: 31^st March 2027

Date for Final Submission of Revised paper: 30^th June 2027

Acceptance of the paper: 31^st July 2027

Special Issue for Publication: December 2027