This is an introductory course to the ethics and politics of hospitality in the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. The course is designed to show why the question of hospitality should be treated as one of the major ethico-political challenges for contemporary thought. It offers a detailed analysis of Derrida’s texts on the problem of hospitality and engages in a critical reflection on the issues of citizenship, refugeeism and borders. During the course students will also be introduced to the Ancient Greek and Jewish genealogy of hospitality, Immanuel Kant’s essay on “Perpetual Peace,” and Étienne Balibar’s commentary on political boundaries and membership. They will gain understanding of aporias and paradoxes of hospitality and how to reconcile them with the demand of deconstruction and justice.
Course Schedule:
Week 1: The Culture of Hospitality
Introduction of the ethics of hospitality. Reading and analysis of Derrida’s The Principles of Hospitality.
Literature:
- Benveniste, Émile. Dictionary of Indo-European Concepts and Society. Trans. E. Palmer. Chicago: Hau Books, 2016.
- Derrida, Jacques. The Principle of Hospitality. In: Paper Machine. Trans. R . Bowlby. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005, pp. 66-69 (required reading).
- Kant, Immanuel. Perpetual Peace. Any edition.
- Naas, Michael. Alors, qui êtes-vous? Jacques Derrida and the Question of Hospitality. In: Derrida From Now On. Bew York: Fordham University Press, 2008, pp. 18-36.
Week 2: Reading Hostipitality
Literature:
- Derrida, Jacques. Hostipitality. In: Acts of Religion. Ed. G. Anidjar. New York––London: Routledge, 2002, pp. 356-420 (required reading – fragments).
- Still, Judith. Derrida and Hospitality: Theory and Practice. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012.
Week 3: Reading Of Hospitality
Literature:
- Derrida, Jacques. A Word of Welcome. In: Adieu to Emmanuel Levinas. Trans. P.-A. Brault, M. Naas. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999, pp. 15-123.
- Derrida, Jacques, Anne Dufourmantelle. Of Hospitality. Trans. R. Bowlby. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000 (required reading – fragments).
Week 4: Hospitality and Citizenship
Discussion on the connection between Derrida’s concept of hospitality and the problematics of citizenship, foreignness and refugeeism.
Literature:
- Arendt, Hannah. We Refugees. Any edition.
- Balibar, Étienne. Citizenship and Exclusion. In: Citizenship. Trans. T. Scott-Railton. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2015, pp. 62-82.
- Benhabib, Seyla. The Rights of Others. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
- Derrida, Jacques. On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness. Trans. M. Dooley, M. Hughes. London–New York: Routledge, 2001 (required reading – fragments).
- Derrida, Jacques. The Other Heading. Trans. P.-A. Brault, M. Naas. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.
- Kristeva, Julia. Strangers to Ourselves. Trans. L. S. Roudiez. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.
Week 5: Hospitality and Borders
Reflection on the ethics of hospitality as a critical approach to the institution of borders.
- Balibar, Étienne. What Is a Border?. Trans. Ch. Turner. In: Politics and the Other Scene. London–New York: Verso, 2002, pp. 75-86 (required reading).
- Mezzadra, Sandro, Brett Neilson. Border as Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor. Durkham–London: Duke University Press, 2013.