The Limits and Possibilities of a Cosmopolitics of Friendship: The Cosmopolitan Thought Zones of S.K. Datta 1900—1942

Abstract

Abstract:This paper explores the cosmopolitan thought zones that informed the life and work of S.K. Datta, an Indian Christian, nationalist and internationalist from 1900 to 1942. I draw on Priyamvada Gopal's use of the dialogical to grasp the contingency of friendship in imperial contexts to reveal the possibilities of a cosmopolitan shared ground as well as its limits within imperial and post-imperial Christian internationalisms. The term cosmopolitics best describes how Datta, as an anti-colonial subject, negotiates friendships within a continuum of relational struggle shaped by structural racism and hegemonic whiteness.