Politics and Possibilities of Moral Cosmopolitanisms

Current normative understanding of migration health ethics discourses frequently centres around improving migrants’ access to care, through appeal to moral cosmopolitanism - which emphasizes the equal moral worth and moral responsibility for humanity, stripped of local identities and aligned with an abstract global ‘we’. Continuing my ongoing works, drawing from critical anti-colonial-imperial and racial justice works, I understand ethics of belonging to be a practice situated within an emotionally charged everyday social setting, and is practiced in our everyday encounters through the value of recognition across social boundaries and embodied bodies. My aim in this paper is twofold. First, I critique the underlying normative and political assumptions of questions commonly ascribed to moral cosmopolitanism in the context of health—a social phenomenon and a public good—such as, ‘Why do we owe duties to strangers?’ and ‘What should these duties look like?’ I argue that these questions presuppose a certain ethical imagination, demanding those in power to perceive ‘strangers’ or ‘compatriots’ in specific, often decontextualized and disembodied ways. Through this reflection and analysis, I will address the question: ‘Whose visions of cosmopolitanism are we aspiring to in (bio/public health) ethics, and what does this mean for migrants?’ Second, I explore ways to uncover the possibilities and politics of cosmopolitanism that acknowledge the racial-imperial-colonial logics, while also recognizing a deep desire for interconnectedness, justice, and change in our current unequal, gridded, and territorialized world. Through my analysis, I contend that to broaden the scope of ethics regarding migration health, it is essential to comprehend the politics of embodied struggles and their impact on one’s moral self, relationships, and community. This understanding is crucial for navigating the evolving ethics in the realm of justice-oriented public health and migration health policies, and its implications for politics and possibilities of moral cosmopolitanisms.