How to Communicate Cosmopolitanism? Reclaiming Global Change and Diversity in Times of Right-Wing Backlashes

Abstract

Against the backdrop of political backlashes, the essay poses the question of why progressive global visions of cosmopolitan realities have not wielded discursive power and even seem to have lost their cultural appeal. The discussion conceptualizes cosmopolitanism from a communication analysis and scrutinizes the fragility of cosmopolitan communication in everyday life experiences and the mediating discourses of mass media. The arguments reflect several communicative challenges of connecting existing cosmopolitan symbolic resources at a grassroots level based primarily on theoretical considerations. Additional preliminary empirical insights derived from a qualitative interview study aiming to understand the communication patterns of lived cosmopolitan experiences will further inform the discussion about challenges of translating these experiences to wider publics. The essay will end with implications for the responsibility of the mass media to help ensure that cosmopolitan realities are taken for granted.