Introduction: theorizing different forms of belonging in a cosmopolitan Malaysia |
| |
Authors: | Gaik Cheng Khoo |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Malaysiagaikcheng.khoo@nottingham.edu.my |
| |
Abstract: | This article introduces this special issue on new ethnoscapes of a cosmopolitan Malaysia. It investigates questions of belonging and analyses the conditions that make possible cosmopolitan solidarity between citizens and sub- and non-citizens in a globalized world. I posit several critical frameworks on cosmopolitanism, citizenship and the public sphere to theorize the relationship between citizens and non-citizens in Malaysia: ‘zones of sovereignty’, the refugee as homo sacer and ‘acts of citizenship’ that constitute rights and subjecthood for non-citizens. In an attempt to outline a more detailed ethnography of everyday ways of belonging, I touch briefly on Conradson's ‘spaces of care’. Lastly, I focus on the public sphere, which can be a barometer for gauging whether cosmopolitan solidarity and transnational crossings can occur. |
| |
Keywords: | Malaysia cosmopolitan solidarity acts of citizenship zones of graduated sovereignty public sphere |
|
|