Cosmopolitanism, a notion of 'world citizenship' which emerged in ancient Greece, has been variously inflected in recent decades. The shift from a cosmopolitanism of the elite to 'cosmopolitanisms from below' is arguably the defining characteristic of its shifting conceptual formulation. In these discourses, the jet-setting executive and renaissance man give way to the refugee, the migrant worker, and the diasporic. The twin forces of colonialism and globalization have engendered a world in which mobility and cultural exchange, argued to be necessary conditions for cosmopolitanism, have become a reality for many previously excluded groups and individuals. The migratory landscape of the contemporary Philippines, with over 10% of its population living overseas, aligns with this notion of an increasingly porous world. This thesis examines the relationship between the material conditions of the Filipino diaspora and the cosmopolitan attitudes articulated by two of its contemporary works of fiction: Randy Ribay's Patron Saints of Nothing and Gina Apostol's Gun Dealers' Daughter. I read these texts in conversation with academic discourse surrounding \"cosmopolitanisms from below\" and argue that true world citizenship is ultimately contingent not simply on material conditions such as transnational mobility, but rather on internal virtues that can be cultivated by all.
"},{"label":"Degree","value":["Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors"]},{"label":"Author-supplied Keywords","value":["Cosmopolitanism","Filipino literature","Philippines"]},{"label":"Administrative Note","value":"Drupal Node ID: 24058