Weaving Worlds: Cosmopraxis as Relational Sensibility

Abstract

Abstract Relationality has become a popular term for addressing diversity, complexity, interconnectedness, and planetary crisis in many academic fields, including international relations (IR). This article shows that fully embracing relationality calls for a distinct set of tools that are discernable in cosmopraxis, an ontological stance derived from Andean thinking that upholds interdependence and co-becoming, being-feeling-knowing-doing, and both-and logics as key principles of existence. Following a discussion of the “relational turn” in academic debates within and beyond IR, we develop our understanding of deep relationality and explain how cosmopraxis works to awaken the relational sensibilities we deem key to broadening and invigorating the study of worldly affairs. Throughout the article, we make use of stories about weaving, a key metaphor of entanglement and interconnection, but also a concrete practice that embodies the principles of cosmopraxis to illustrate our main arguments.