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

October 11-12, 2017

Attention: Inscription obligatoire pour la journée du 12 octobre: http://www.sciencespo.fr/ceri/evenements/?lang=fr&id=5905

Wednesday, October 11, INALCO

9h15 Introduction: Kathy Rousselet (SciencesPo-USPC / CERI), Delphine Pagès-El Karoui (INALCO-USPC / CERMOM) & Laure Assaf (EHESS / LAUM)

9h30 Keynote Conference 1: Ottoman Cosmopolitanism: Model or Myth?

Edhem Eldem (Boğaziçi University & Collège de France)

10h30-11h Coffee break

Panel 1: Cosmopolitan rhetorics and urban marketing

11h-13h

Chair: Claire Beaugrand (Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter)

• Universalism versus Cosmopolitanism? The case of theLouvre Abu Dhabi Museum Project, Anne Krebs (Service Etudes et recherche du Musée du Louvre) & Franck Mermier (CNRS / LAUM)
• The Art Milieus in Dubai and the Shaping of the Cosmo-Nationalist Man, Amin Moghadam (Princeton University)
• “Binary States”: An artistic endeavour to foster cosmopolitan and transnational rhetorics, Aurélie Varrel (CNRS / CEIAS)
• Transnational experiences, cosmopolitanism and visual arts in Kuwait before 1990, Anahi Alviso-Marino (CESSP / CRAPUL)

13h-14h30 Lunch Break

Panel 2: Cosmopolitanism in theoretical and comparative perspectives

14h30-16h30

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

• Cosmopolitanism as a nomadic concept: from India to South America, Pascal Sieger (EHESS / CEIAS)

• Cosmopolitan urbanities in the Middle East: from colonial Alexandria to post-colonial Dubai, a travelling and contested concept, Delphine Pagès-El Karoui (INALCO-USPC / CERMOM)

• 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 / LARCA)

• Shopping malls as cosmopolitan canopies? Reflections on an urban form, Laure Assaf (EHESS / LAUM) & Sylvaine Camelin (Université Paris Nanterre / LESC)

16h30-17h Tea Time

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 / Sophiapol)

19h Cocktail

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)

Panel 3: Cosmopolitan belongings, tensions and frictions in Gulf countries

10h30-13h30

Chair: Roman Stadnicki (Université de Tours / CITERES)

• Uncelebrated diversity in Kuwait, Claire Beaugrand (Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter)

• “Cosmopolitanism in denial. The illiberal politics of migration and everyday diversity in the Gulf cities”, Laure Assaf (EHESS / LAUM) & Hélène Thiollet (SciencesPo-USPC / CERI)

11h30-12h Coffee break

• Analyzing cosmopolitanism through migratory paths among Abu Dhabi foreign residents, Clio Chaveneau (Université Paris-Sorbonne Abu Dhabi) & Hadrien Dubucs (Université Paris-Sorbonne Abu Dhabi)

• Dubai Metro: A public transport infrastructure catalyst of cosmopolitan place making?, Clémence Montagne (Université Paris-Sorbonne / CEFAS)

• “Outsiders” in France, “Westerners” in the Gulf, Martin Lestra (European University Institute / EHESS)

13h30-14h30 Lunch Break

Panel 4: Comparative ethnographies of cosmopolitanism

14h30-16h30

Chair: Philip Kasinitz (the City University of New York)

• Experiencing aesthetico-cultural cosmopolitanism: a comparison of youth in Paris, Sao Paulo and Seoul, Vincenzo Cicchelli (Université Paris Descartes-USPC / GEMASS), Sylvie Octobre (Ministère de la Culture et de la communication / GEMASS), 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 / ISP), Olivier Clochard (CNRS / Migrinter), Iris Polizou (École française d’Athènes) & Camille Schmoll (Université Paris Diderot-USPC / Géographie-cités / IUF)

• Mooring super-diversity to a brutal migration milieu, Suzanne Hall (London School of Economics and Political Science)

16h30-17h Concluding remarks