Cosmopolitan Spaces: Europe, Globalization, Theory (Routledge, 2008) has received the Gold Award in the Association of Borderland Studies’ Past Presidents’ Book Award competition 2010
http://www.absborderlands.org/
Citation:
Sociologists working on borderlands topics are crafting new social constructions that provide innovative ways to examine border dynamics and circumstances. In this spirit, Chris Rumford’s Cosmopolitan Spaces challenges institutionalist and structuralist approaches to understand socio-political transformation in contemporary Europe and beyond. Rumford’s notion of “cosmopolitanism” serves as an elastic and variable frame for exploring social transformation in a globalizing world. He performs a valuable service by critically engaging a wide range of literatures relevant to the debate on the social construction of borders, bordering, and border-work. Rumford makes a persuasive case that simply looking at the politics of European economic and institutional integration with all its associated innovation misses a vital dimension of underlying social change central to understanding how social andpolitical relations are being re-crafted on either side of Europe’s perimeters. Whether cosmopolitanism is really the analytical handle borderlands scholars are looking for to organize and explain the complexities of border dynamics remains to be seen, but Rumford’s argument is sure to inspire considerable debate of the sort that moves the field forward.
The ABS book award consists of a plaque, a certificate and a year’s free membership in ABS. Also, the winner of the Gold 2010 Book Award will chair the ABS book award 2011 and be the ABS guest and keynote speaker at the ABS meeting 2010.
