“Imagining Plural Cosmopolitanisms in the Essays of Amitav Ghosh”

Abstract

This paper examines Amitav Ghosh’s representation of divergent cosmopolitanisms throughout his many essay writings, including the impact of imperial cosmopolitanisms and the promise of resistant, anti-imperialist cosmopolitanism, such as symbolized by the Non-Aligned Movement. Consistent in his essay writing, Ghosh imagines a transcultural, cosmopolitan consciousness as an antidote to the longer histories of colonial violence and the xenophobia of the nationalist present. This article discusses how Ghosh’s attention to his past experiences in Egypt and Cambodia, as well as his idealized memories of transnational alliances articulate this form of cosmopolitan consciousness, what I call “utopic cosmopolitanism.” Finally, this article also investigates the special cosmopolitan role of literature, extolled through his essays. Ghosh illuminates the role of literature as a critical witness to the traumas of minority groups. As he sees it, the work of literature advances a cosmopolitan sensibility that contests partitionist realities and unsettles the onset of historical amnesia. This article demonstrates that Ghosh’s essays are significant not only for exploring his larger (cosmo)political concerns, but also because they reveal the genre as one that both catalyzes and supplements his fictional writings.