Colloque international : “Cosmopolitanism Revisited: Comparative Perspectives on Urban Diversity from the Gulf and Beyond” – INALCO et CEVIPOF, 11-12/10/2017

This conference aims to revisit the notion of cosmopolitanism in Gulf cities and other regional areas from a comparative perspective. It will be a unique opportunity for scholars of the Gulf and other world regions to engage with cosmopolitanism or otherwise probe the intersection of global studies, urban studies and migration studies from a range of disciplines. More specifically, panels will be organized around the following research themes:“cosmopolitan canopy”, cosmopolitanism in theoretical and comparative perspectives, new geographies of cosmopolitanism in Gulf cities.

Program

Wednesday, October 11, INALCO

9h15 Introduction: Kathy Rousselet (Sciences Po, USPC) & Delphine Pagès-El Karoui(INALCO/USPC)

9h30 Keynote Conference 1: Ottoman Cosmopolitanism: Model or Myth, Edhem Eldem (Boğaziçi University and Collège de France)

11h-13h : Panel 1: Cosmopolitan rhetorics and urban marketing

Chair: Claire Beaugrand (PSIA-SciencesPo)

• Universalism versus Cosmopolitanism? The case of the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum Project,Anne Krebs (Louvre Museum’s Research and Collection Department) & Franck Mermier (CNRS)
• The Art Milieus in Dubai and the Shaping of the Cosmo-Nationalist Man, Amin Moghadam(Princeton University)
• Transnational Experiences, Cosmopolitanism, and the Visual Arts in Kuwait pre-1990, Anahi Alviso-Marino (FMSH/CEFAS)
• “Binary States”: An artistic endeavour to foster cosmopolitan and transnational rhetorics”,Aurélie Varrel (CNRS)

13h-14h30 Lunch Break

14h30-16h30 : Panel 2: Cosmopolitanism in theoretical and comparative perspectives

Chairs: Sophie Body-Gendrot (Université Paris Sorbonne) & Hélène Thiollet (CNRS/CERI)

• The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Not lost in translation… A few remarks on the reception of the concept and its uses outside the US, Catherine Lejeune (Université Paris Diderot/USPC)
• Cosmopolitanism as a nomadic concept: from India to South America, Pascal Sieger(EHESS)
• Cosmopolitan urbanities in the Middle East: from colonial Alexandria to post-colonial Dubai, a travelling and contested concept, Delphine Pagès-El Karoui (INALCO/USPC)
• Shopping malls as cosmopolitan canopies? Reflections on an urban form, Laure Assaf(EHESS-LAU) & Sylvaine Camelin (Université Paris Nanterre)

17h Keynote Conference 2: The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life, Elijah Anderson (Yale University)

Discussants: Philip Kasinitz (the City University of New York) & Anne Raulin (Université Paris Nanterre)

Thursday, October 12, CEVIPOF, Sciences Po

9h30-10h30: Keynote Conference 3: Urban Enclaves: Scenes from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Yasser Elsheshtawy (independent writer, researcher and curator)

10h30-13h30 : Panel 3: Cosmopolitan belongings, tensions and frictions in Gulf countries

Chair: Roman Stadnicki (Université de Tours)

• Uncelebrated diversity in Kuwait, Claire Beaugrand (PSIA-SciencesPo)
• Cosmopolitanism in denial. A comparison between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Laure Assaf (EHESS) & Hélène Thiollet (CNRS
• Analyzing cosmopolitanism through migratory paths among Abu Dhabi foreign residents, Clio Chaveneau (Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi University) & Hadrien Dubucs (Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi University)
• Dubai Metro: from my city, my metro to our city, our metro?, Clémence Montagne (Université Sorbonne – Paris 4)
• “Outsiders” in France, “Westerners” in the Gulf, Martin Lestra (European University Institute-EHESS)

13h30-14h30 Lunch Break

14h30-16h30 Panel 4: Comparative ethnographies of cosmopolitanism

Chair: Anne Raulin (Université Paris Nanterre)

• Experiencing aesthetico-cultural cosmopolitanism: a comparison of youth in Paris, Sao Paulo and Seoul, Vincenzo Cicchelli (Université Paris Descartes), Sylvie Octobre (French Ministry of Culture), Viviane Riegel (ESPM São Paulo), Tally Katz-Gerro (University of Manchester) &Femida Handy (University of Pennsylvania)
• What’s in a street? Exploring local stories of subaltern cosmopolitanism in Trikoupi, Nicosia,Karen Akoka (Université Paris Nanterre), Olivier Clochard Iris Polizou (Ecole française d’Athènes) & Camille Schmoll (Université Paris Diderot/USPC)
• Mooring super-diversity to a brutal migration milieu, Susan Hall (London School of Economics and Political Science)

16h30-17h Concluding Remarks: Philip Kasinitz (the City University of New York)

Organizing Committee: Laure Assaf (EHESS), Gabrielle Chomentowski (INALCO), Catherine Lejeune (Paris Diderot), Delphine Pagès-El Karoui (INALCO), Camille Schmoll (Paris Diderot), Hélène Thiollet (Sciences Po)

Scientific Committee: Clio Chaveneau (PSUAD), Vincenzo Cicchelli (Paris V), Hadrien Dubucs (PSUAD), Philip Kasinitz (CUNY), Franck Mermier (IIAC-LAU), Amin Moghadam (Princeton), Clémence Montagne (PSUAD), Aurélie Varrel (French Institute of Pondichéry).

Contact : Gabrielle Chomentowski
courriel : gabrielle [dot] chomentowski [at] inalco [dot] fr