Double Boundary and Cosmopolitan Experience in Europe

Double Boundary and Cosmopolitan Experience in Europe aims to open up the debate about national, European and cosmopolitan identity through an interpretation of Simmel’s double boundary dialectic: human beings are boundaries and only those who stand outside their boundaries can see them as such. One difficulty with defining oneself as European stems from what could be called the “double Other” (intra- and extra-European) diachronic recognition process. Exploring the possible/impossible cosmopolitan meta-synthesis can identify certain traits of the cosmopolitan experience in Europe. (Keywords: Boundary, Simmel, Europe, Cosmopolitan, Culture, Trans-cultural, Trans-social).

The chapter is part of the book Globalization, Supranational Dynamics and Local Experiences, edited by Marco Caselli and Guia Gilardoni – book series “Europe in a Global Context” (Palgrave Macmillan). This edited collection focuses on concepts of globalization, glocalization, transnationalism and cosmopolitanism. The contributions provide evidence of how in practice, global dynamics and individual lives are interrelated. It presents theoretical reflections on how the local, the transnational and global dimensions of social life are entwined and construct the meaning of one another, and offers everyday examples of how individuals and organizations try to answer global challenges in local contexts. The book closely focuses on migration processes, as one of the main phenomena allowing a high number of people from contemporary society to directly experience supranational dynamics, either as migrants or inhabitants of the places where migrants pass through or settle down. Globalization, Supranational Dynamics and Local Experiences will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, migration studies and global studies. You can check a preview of the book here.

Birindelli P. (2017) Double Boundary and Cosmopolitan Experience in Europe. In Caselli M., Gilardoni G. (eds.) Globalization, Supranational Dynamics and Local Experiences. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 127-148.