Redefinitions of Citizenship and Revisions of Cosmopolitanism—Transnational Perspectives: A Response and a Proposal

It is both a pleasure and a privilege to offer this response to the essays in the symposium “Redefinitions of Citizenship and Revisions of Cosmopolitanism—Transnational Perspectives” by five of the leading scholars in the field. Indeed, without the transformative earlier work by these five scholars, the field of American Studies would look very different than it does today. Each of them has pioneered in bringing transnational perspectives on our field of study to the fore, and for that we owe them a debt of gratitude. These short pieces are typical of their key contributions to the field: they are eloquent and insightful, and they give credit to the work on which they build and which they extend.