At Home in the World

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From every quarter, we hear of a new global culture, postcolonial and hybrid, heralding the death of nationalism and the rise of cosmopolitanism. However, Timothy Brennan uncovers a contrasting narrative beneath this trend. His book offers a polemical and passionate critique of the self-indulgence often labeled as cosmopolitanism while acknowledging the numerous forces opposing globalism in its simplistic, homogenizing form. Brennan explores developments across various platforms—editorial pages, policy journals, corporate training manuals, and especially the arts. His analysis spans figures from George Orwell to Julia Kristeva, Subcommandante Marcos to Julio Cortázar, and Ernst Bloch to contemporary advocates of transnational capitalism. He pays particular attention to C. L. R. James, whose work presents an alternative to traditional cultural studies, and Alejo Carpentier, whose insights into Cuban popular music blur the lines between mass and elite culture. This critical call to action urges intellectuals and scholars to revitalize cultural studies by exposing the superficiality of the new cosmopolitanism, ultimately enriching the concept itself.