Living Together

Fostering Cultural Pluralism through Citizenship Politics

This five-year project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada and conducted by Professor Kim Rygiel at Wilfirid Laurier University and Professor Feyzi Baban at Trent University in Canada.

This project uncovers how xenophobia and racism are challenged within local communities in Europe. Through projects such as kitchen hubs, arts projects, and shared living spaces, we illustrate how newcomers and locals come together and create new, shared living experiences. This living together –what we call transgressive cosmopolitanism – is rooted in the everyday lives of uprooted and marginalized peoples such as migrants and refugees and is practiced daily within neighborhoods and communities.

Our research is categorized into four themes: Transgressive Cosmopolitanism, Representations, Encounters and Spaces, which we use to organize case studies to answer the following questions:

• Why, how and under what conditions some communities are more open to cultural difference than others;
• What types of projects facilitate openness to newcomers;
• And how do citizens and non-citizens participate in these projects in ways that transform understandings of citizenship and belonging.