Cosmopolitismo e cidadania cultural

: discursos sobre diversidade cultural nas políticas da Câmara Municipal de Lisboa

Abstract

Cultural policies are an important object of study in the social and human sciences, as these policies reflect the interplay of two dimensions: culture and power. The overall aim of this thesis is to understand how municipal discourses on cultural diversity and cosmopolitanism impact on citizenship by examining the strategic documents developed by the Lisbon Municipal Council, in the light of the current debates around complex issues such as immigration, ethnicity and race, particularly those which take place in political and civic contexts. Debates on political, economic and social spheres will be integrated in the cultural analysis, in order to better understand the central question of this thesis – how the exaltation of a cosmopolitan citizenship and the current expressions of cultural chauvinism and closure can coexist in a “global risk society” (Ulrich Beck). First, the thesis examines the concepts of ‘culture’, ‘cultural policies’, ‘cosmopolitanism’, and ‘citizenship’ from a historical perspective in order to systematize and critically update them. Then, the concepts are addressed from a more reflective and multidimensional perspective which draws on a transcultural approach (Wolfgang Welsch) to cultural diversity, one that recognises culture as a resource (George Yúdice). Finally, the thesis analyses how Lisbon Municipal Council’s strategic documents concerning the city’s management of cultural diversity, compare with collected data and insights, stemming from civil society, as well as academic research presented in the first chapter of this thesis. The research supports the hypothesis that further discussion and consolidation of the Municipality’s political discourses is key to the establishment of a truly critical and reflective cosmopolitan citizenship. The thesis aims at contributing to this by exploring theoretical production, and its current relation with political, cultural and social discourses and practices.

Date of Award	14 Jun 2021
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Peter Hanenberg (Supervisor) & João Teixeira Lopes (Co-Supervisor)