Lecture by Barbara Ungepflegt, Andrea Glauser:

Trans-local connections and the staging of cosmopolitanism: Dramaturgy of town twinning

(August 29th 2024) @16th European Sociological Association Conference, Porto (PT)

This contribution focuses on a practice of trans-local and transnational interconnection that has experienced a strong boost, especially after the Second World War: town twinning. There were and are many different forms of such associations, and they seem important in the context of the idea of “living in one world.” From a historical perspective, town twinning has often been associated with values such as international understanding, the promotion of peace and open-mindedness, and has been linked with the idea of bringing citizens from different contexts, that is, countries and regions, into direct, personal exchange. What meaning is attributed to town twinning arrangements today – in the context of multiple global crises and strong social polarization and contradictions? Our study explores this question using the example of Vienna and its diverse international district partnerships. The main interest lies in the staging of these connections and specifically the way in which they are lived and dramaturgically set. Through an ethnographic research perspective and drawing on theoretical considerations of discursive institutionalism, symbolic interactionism, and the dramaturgy of existence (theater studies), we investigate rituals and socialities characteristic to these connections, which are sometimes called “friendships from below.” The analysis focuses in particular on gifts and artifacts and their placement in public space, and the narratives that encompass these connections. In this context, failed connections and pretended declarations or expressions of (political) friendship are also of interest. The aim is to clarify and better understand forms of enactment of (trans-)locality and cosmopolitanism in and through town twinning.