Cosmopolitanism
A Cosmopolitan World
Imagine a world where people are able to look past the imaginary boundaries that separates them. With the access of things such as traveling, international trade, and the internet, our world is becoming smaller than ever before – yet people beyond our boundaries are still seen as “strangers”. While race normally divides people, Chicana writer, Gloria Anzaldua proposes people of different races to confront their fears in order to move forward into a world that is a less hateful and more useful. Similarly, philosopher and writer, Kwame Appiah approaches this matter with cosmopolitanism. The meaning of cosmopolitanism is the focus of the world as being a whole rather than just a specific group. It is the belief that all humans belong to a single community based on a shared understanding that we are all similar. Both Anzaldua and Appiah’s ideology helps create a society in which all cultures are able to cope and adapt with one another while neglecting the idea of having to assimilate into a dominate culture.
Anzaldua discusses the issues she has living as a female Chicana activist. As a result of her gender, she is placed in opposition to masculinity. As a Chicana and lesbian she finds that there is no middle ground to choose from. She feels as if she is forced to choose between two cultures but is never quite part of them either, as if she were outside both cultures. Ultimately, Anzaldua sees that society’s way of thinking is that you are either one side or the other. The new consciousness, she describes, goes beyond the boundaries of these Western beliefs – being white or colored, male or female, heterosexual or homosexual. Analdua proposes that we all live in the Borderlands, the space between being inside or outside of culture. Anazldua describes “The Borderland” as a space where multiple cultures overlap. Moreover, the Borderlands is a place where those from the lower to upper classes come across, where people of different races live
Imagine a world where people are able to look past the imaginary boundaries that separates them. With the access of things such as traveling, international trade, and the internet, our world is becoming smaller than ever before – yet people beyond our boundaries are still seen as “strangers”. While race normally divides people, Chicana writer, Gloria Anzaldua proposes people of different races to confront their fears in order to move forward into a world that is a less hateful and more useful. Similarly, philosopher and writer, Kwame Appiah approaches this matter with cosmopolitanism. The meaning of cosmopolitanism is the focus of the world as being a whole rather than just a specific group. It is the belief that all humans belong to a single community based on a shared understanding that we are all similar. Both Anzaldua and Appiah’s ideology helps create a society in which all cultures are able to cope and adapt with one another while neglecting the idea of having to assimilate into a dominate culture.
Anzaldua discusses the issues she has living as a female Chicana activist. As a result of her gender, she is placed in opposition to masculinity. As a Chicana and lesbian she finds that there is no middle ground to choose from. She feels as if she is forced to choose between two cultures but is never quite part of them either, as if she were outside both cultures. Ultimately, Anzaldua sees that society’s way of thinking is that you are either one side or the other. The new consciousness, she describes, goes beyond the boundaries of these Western beliefs – being white or colored, male or female, heterosexual or homosexual. Analdua proposes that we all live in the Borderlands, the space between being inside or outside of culture. Anazldua describes “The Borderland” as a space where multiple cultures overlap. Moreover, the Borderlands is a place where those from the lower to upper classes come across, where people of different races live