“Cosmopolitanism: Reflections at the Commemoration of Ulrich Beck, 30 October 2015” by Homi K. Bhabha: Summary and Critique

Translation as Intellectual Tribute and Cosmopolitan Practice

• Philosophical Importance: Translation is depicted as a critical intellectual practice, not just for conveying meaning across languages but for sustaining and honoring the enduring significance of a scholar’s work. Homi K. Bhabha reflects, “A tribute, at its best, is an act of translation. We gather here in a spirit of ‘translation’ – a concept rich with shades of meaning – to dispel the shadows of passing as we engage with the life work of Ulrich Beck.”
• Walter Benjamin’s Perspective: Translation is central to the afterlife of intellectual work. Benjamin argues that “A translation issues from the original – not so much from its life as from its afterlife,” emphasizing the ongoing relevance of a work through its reinterpretation and transformation in different contexts and times.

Cosmopolitan Memory

• Definition and Origins: The concept of cosmopolitan memory, introduced by Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider and later developed by Ulrich Beck, refers to a collective memory that transcends national boundaries and integrates various historical experiences. Bhabha elaborates, “Cosmopolitan memory, like cultural translation, is a mode of thought and action embodied in the memory of the future.”
• Temporal Dynamics: This memory operates in a “proleptic” manner, where the future is anticipated as already existing in the present. Bhabha notes, “Cosmopolitan memory, above all else, is an anxious ethics of anticipation,” highlighting its role in preventing the repetition of past atrocities.

Anxiety and Memory

• Role of Anxiety: Anxiety is a crucial element in the functioning of cosmopolitan memory. It serves as both a reminder of past traumas and a subtle engagement with these memories, creating a tension between remembering and forgetting. Bhabha explains, “Anxiety forces the discourse of cosmopolitan memory to confront its own alterity, negotiating a knife-edge balance between sympathy and antipathy.”
• Kierkegaard’s Influence: Drawing on Kierkegaard’s ideas, Bhabha explores anxiety as a paradoxical force that both compels attention to the suffering of others and simultaneously creates a distance from it. He writes, “Anxiety illuminates the process by which cosmopolitan memory, in order to incorporate the Other’s suffering, cannot look away from its ethical object of attention, but, at the same time, cannot look directly at it either.”

Personal Reflection and Ethical Implications

• Nuremberg Visit: Bhabha recounts his visit to the Zeppelinfeld in Nuremberg, reflecting on the emotional and ethical challenges of engaging with historical sites of trauma. He describes the experience as encountering “the half-life of heritage,” where the past is both vividly present and eerily disconnected from the present reality. Bhabha reflects, “How do you ‘dis-possess’ a cultural space, a heritage site that has developed a global resonance, a cosmopolitan reference?”
• Ethical Challenges: The narrative underscores the moral responsibility of engaging with cosmopolitan memory, which requires confronting the complexities of past traumas while striving to build a future that avoids repeating these mistakes. Bhabha emphasizes, “The moral witness is caught in a double time-frame of memory, surviving the testimony of the past while striving to possess the freedoms of the future.”

The Poetic Dimension

• Adrienne Rich’s Poem: The inclusion of Rich’s poem serves to illustrate the emotional depth and ethical complexity of cosmopolitan memory. The repetition of “I am” in the poem reflects the continuous struggle between remembering and forgetting, and the ambivalence of identity in the face of historical trauma. Bhabha interprets, “Memory says, don’t count on me, and yet it is only through the ambivalent and uncertain relationality of remembering and forgetting that life returns from the grave and hospitality is offered to the stranger.”
• Repetition and Unsatisfaction: The poem’s structure captures the iterative process of memory and the inherent dissatisfaction that comes with trying to reconcile past suffering with present realities. Bhabha notes that the poem’s anxious tone helps “cosmopolitan memory to negotiate a knife-edge balance between negotiating sympathy and antipathy.”

Conclusion and Theoretical Integration

• Interconnectedness of Memory and Anxiety: The complex relationship between memory and anxiety shapes cosmopolitan ethics. Bhabha argues, “The recognition of memory-cum-anxiety provides a way of working with, and working through, the practices of cosmopolitan memory,” highlighting the interdependence of these concepts in the ethical engagement with history and future.
• Call for Reflexivity: Bhabha calls for a continuous, reflexive approach to cosmopolitan memory, where individuals and societies must constantly navigate the tension between past and future traumas. He concludes, “To propose an ethics of cosmopolitanism not based primarily on our dignity as human beings… but on our psychic alienations, moral ambivalences, and personal agonisms as ‘speaking beings’ is an idea that privileges cosmopolitan memory.”

Analysis

Theoretical Framework

• Interdisciplinary Approach: Bhabha integrates insights from philosophy, psychoanalysis, and cultural theory to offer a sophisticated understanding of cosmopolitan memory, drawing on thinkers like Walter Benjamin, Ulrich Beck, and Søren Kierkegaard. He asserts, “The translational emphasis on the afterlife is part of Benjamin’s critique of the teleological and evolutionary character of historicism in defining the ‘time’ of a work.”
• Influence of Key Thinkers: The text is deeply influenced by Benjamin’s concept of translation, Beck’s ideas on cosmopolitan society, and Kierkegaard’s exploration of anxiety, all of which are woven into a coherent argument about memory and ethics.

Memory as a Dynamic Process

• Afterlife of Works: The idea that translations and memories give works an afterlife challenges traditional notions of preservation. Instead of merely conserving the original, Bhabha emphasizes the importance of transformation and renewal, noting, “What survives as the embryonic afterlife of the oeuvre is its potential for renewal, transmission, and trans-valuation.”
• Collective vs. Individual Memory: Bhabha navigates the tension between collective memory (such as national traumas) and individual experiences, highlighting how they interact within a cosmopolitan framework.

Ethical Dimensions

• Responsibility and Anticipation: The ethical imperative in cosmopolitan memory lies in using the past not only to remember but to shape a future that avoids repeating historical mistakes. Bhabha writes, “The ethical project of cosmopolitan memory is the perception of public virtue and progress seen through the dark glass of human survival.”
• Anxiety as a Moral Signal: Anxiety functions as a signal for ethical action, guiding societies in addressing unresolved memories and preventing the recurrence of past atrocities. Bhabha suggests, “Freud’s late theory of anxiety as a ‘signal’ demonstrates the way in which anxiety, like memory, relates in the same movement to the sign of the traumatic past and to the signification of the resilient future.”

Personal Narrative as Theoretical Illustration

• Embodied Experience: Bhabha’s account of visiting Nuremberg serves to ground his theoretical concepts in lived experience, showing how cosmopolitan memory operates in real-world settings. He reflects, “In the lengthening shadows of the Zeppelintribune I felt a gathering sense of being in the midst of many unresolved experiences and narratives.”
• Symbolism of Sites: Historical sites like the Zeppelinfeld become symbolic spaces where collective memory and individual reflection intersect, embodying the complexities of engaging with traumatic histories.

Poetic Integration

• Emotional Resonance: The inclusion of Adrienne Rich’s poem adds emotional depth to the theoretical discourse, illustrating how poetry can capture the ambivalence and ethical tensions inherent in cosmopolitan memory. Bhabha writes, “Anxiety forces the discourse of cosmopolitan memory – its subjects, objects, languages – to confront its own alterity.”
• Repetition and Unsatisfaction: The poem’s repetitive structure mirrors the cyclical nature of memory and anxiety, emphasizing the ongoing struggle to reconcile with the past. Bhabha points out that the poem’s anxious tone assists “cosmopolitan memory to negotiate a knife-edge balance between negotiating sympathy and antipathy.”

Implications for Cosmopolitanism

• Plurality and Diversity: Bhabha emphasizes that cosmopolitanism is characterized by a plurality of experiences, memories, and ethical considerations, rather than a monolithic or homogenous concept. He cites Beck: “There is not one language of cosmopolitanism, but many languages, tongues, grammars.”
• Dynamic Ethical Practice: Engaging with cosmopolitan memory requires a dynamic and reflexive ethical practice that continuously adapts to new memories and future uncertainties. Bhabha concludes with the idea that, “The moral witness is caught in a double time-frame of memory, surviving the testimony of the past while striving to possess the freedoms of the future.”

1. Postcolonial Theory

Bhabha’s work is deeply rooted in postcolonial theory, and this article continues his exploration of how identities, cultures, and memories are constructed and deconstructed in a global context. His reflections on cosmopolitanism engage with the complexities of identity, cultural translation, and the ethics of memory, all central themes in postcolonial thought.

• Cultural Translation and Hybridity: Bhabha discusses translation as a key element of cosmopolitan practice, echoing his earlier work on cultural hybridity. He states, “Translation is a profoundly cosmopolitan practice,” which aligns with his postcolonial idea that identities are not fixed but constantly being negotiated through cultural exchanges and translations (Bhabha, 2018, p. 132).
• The Ethics of Memory and Alterity: Bhabha’s exploration of cosmopolitan memory incorporates the postcolonial concern with the ethics of remembering the ‘Other.’ He reflects on how “cosmopolitan memory…cannot look away from its ethical object of attention, but, at the same time, cannot look directly at it either” (Bhabha, 2018, p. 134). This resonates with postcolonial critiques of how histories of colonization and trauma are remembered or forgotten.

2. Memory Studies

Bhabha’s discussion of cosmopolitan memory contributes to the field of memory studies by examining how collective memories are formed and sustained across national and cultural boundaries.

• Cosmopolitan Memory as Anxious Ethics: Bhabha introduces the concept of “cosmopolitan memory” as an “anxious ethics of anticipation” (Bhabha, 2018, p. 133). This idea contributes to memory studies by proposing that memory is not just a passive act of remembering but an active, anxious engagement with both the past and the future.
• Temporal Dynamics in Memory: Bhabha emphasizes the temporal complexity of memory, particularly the idea of “prolepsis,” or the anticipation of the future as if it were already present. He writes, “If prolepsis is ‘the anticipation of the future as already existing in the present,’ then it provides a language that gets to the fast-beating heart of the aspirations of cosmopolitan memory” (Bhabha, 2018, p. 133). This approach challenges linear conceptions of memory in favor of a more dynamic, forward-looking perspective.

3. Translation Theory

Bhabha’s reflections on translation go beyond linguistic concerns to address the cultural and ethical dimensions of translation, contributing to translation theory by framing it as an essential practice in the cosmopolitan world.

• Translation as Survival and Renewal: Bhabha argues that translation ensures the “afterlife” of intellectual work, suggesting that translation is not merely about preserving meaning but about renewing and transforming it. He quotes Walter Benjamin: “For in its after-life…the original undergoes a change” (Bhabha, 2018, p. 132). This view challenges traditional notions of fidelity in translation, emphasizing instead the transformative potential of translation in global contexts.
• The Foreignness of Languages: Bhabha highlights the importance of recognizing the “foreignness” inherent in all languages during translation, citing Benjamin’s argument that “Our translations…proceed from a wrong premise” by trying to domesticate the foreign into the familiar (Bhabha, 2018, p. 132). This contributes to translation theory by advocating for a more respectful and open-ended approach to cultural differences.

4. Cosmopolitanism

The article is a direct contribution to the theory of cosmopolitanism, particularly in its discussion of how cosmopolitan memory and ethics are constructed and maintained in a globalized world.

• Plurality and Difference in Cosmopolitanism: Bhabha underscores the multiplicity inherent in cosmopolitanism, stating, “There is not one language of cosmopolitanism, but many languages, tongues, grammars” (Bhabha, 2018, p. 133). This challenges homogenizing views of cosmopolitanism, instead advocating for a recognition of the “plurality of antagonisms and differences” that shape cosmopolitan identities.
• Cosmopolitan Memory and Ethics: Bhabha’s concept of “cosmopolitan memory” as an “anxious ethics of anticipation” (Bhabha, 2018, p. 133) contributes to cosmopolitan theory by framing it as a continuous, reflexive practice that involves both remembering past traumas and preparing for future challenges. This ethical framework is essential for understanding how global communities can engage with their shared histories and responsibilities.

5. Psychoanalytic Theory

Bhabha’s incorporation of psychoanalytic concepts, particularly his discussion of anxiety, enriches psychoanalytic theory by applying these ideas to collective memory and cosmopolitan ethics.

• Anxiety as a Mediator of Memory: Drawing on Kierkegaard and Freud, Bhabha explores how anxiety functions as a mediator between memory and forgetting. He writes, “Anxiety forces the discourse of cosmopolitan memory to confront its own alterity” (Bhabha, 2018, p. 135). This application of psychoanalytic theory to collective memory offers a nuanced understanding of how societies engage with traumatic pasts.
• The Paradox of Anxiety: Bhabha’s discussion of anxiety as both sympathetic and antipathetic aligns with psychoanalytic explorations of ambivalence and contradiction in human behavior. He reflects on Kierkegaard’s idea that “Anxiety illuminates the process by which cosmopolitan memory…cannot look away from its ethical object of attention, but, at the same time, cannot look directly at it either” (Bhabha, 2018, p. 134).