Worldliness in Out of the Way Places

Eric Gable, University of Mary Washington

The definitive article can be found on the website of Cadernos de Estudos Africanos at: https://journals.openedition.org/cea/.

Abstract

This paper looks at such youthful cosmopolitan aspirations among Manjaco of Guinea-Bissau and Lauje in Sulawesi. It is often argued that these attempts at worldliness reflect claims for equal rights of membership in an unequal global society. Yet, an aspiration to worldliness also entails their assertion that we are, or at least should be, like them. This paper suggests that Manjaco and Lauje might seem to want to look like us but they talk very differently about what they expect of us in a world we mutually make.