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and essentially self-reflective. Shamsie’s cosmopolitanism
issues forth from the perspectives of silenced and
marginalized Pakistanis, Muslims, migrants, and women, but
it does not take plurality simply as the goal when challenging
universal norms that are essentially ethnocentric, as
exemplified by the global designs of British imperialism and
American nationalism. At the same time as it addresses
uneven international and cross-cultural relations, it also
acutely discerns, from a micro-societal perspective, changes
within personal, national, and other local identities. It
reflects internally and reflexively on the problems of Islamic
fundamentalism, divided loyalties and nationalism, as well as
gender politics in Pakistan. Shamsie’s works ultimately and
paradoxically show that, rather than mobility across borders,
reflexive self-understanding is a core component of
cosmopolitanism, on the basis of which connection to the
world is critically established.
Key Words:
politics, critical cosmopolitanism,
Offence
,
Burnt Shadows
,
A God in Every Stone