Locality and Cosmopolitanism

Wang Mingming

Published in Open Times, 2024, Issue 1.

Abstract: This article examines the circulation and transformation of the concept of "local knowledge" within academic circles in London and Beijing. It seeks to illuminate how a "keyword" became entangled in the debate between universalists and particularists in the West and in the contest between Chinese culturologists and pan-power social scientists at the close of the 20th century. Central to the evolution of this concept is the resurfacing of an old idea in novel forms within the intellectual sphere and the diverse approaches to specific issues. These transformations persist, even in the resistance to "local knowledge," such as the author's attempts to reconfigure the cosmological thoughts of various cultures, to accord global recognition to "local knowledge," and to surmount the divide between universality and particularity.

Keywords: local knowledge, culture, power, universality, cosmopolitanism