Formulating a Cosmopolitan Approach to Immigration and Social Policy: Lessons from American (North and South) Indigenous and Immigrant Groups

Throughout history the United States has been constantly confronted with the responsibility of integrating diverse groups of people into its society. This paper uses current and historical ideas about the complex nature of indigenous groups, globalization, and education as vehicles for promoting the adoption of cosmopolitanism, a paradigm that values inclusion, tolerance, and respect for the other. Cosmopolitanism is discussed as a plausible alternative to historical assimilationist/nativist practices. The paper uses the Otavalos, an indigenous population in Ecuador, as an instructive example of a community that successfully applies a cosmopolitan approach to its indigenous identity and immigration behaviors to integrate itself into a modern global society.