In
2014, the ethics and politics of hospitality were brought into stark
relief. Three years into the Syrian conflict, which had already created
nearly 2.5 million refugees and internally displaced 6.5 million, the UN
called on industrialised countries to share the burden of offering
hospitality through a fixed quota system. The UK opted out of the system
whilst hailing their acceptance of a moral responsibility by welcoming
only 500 of the ‘most vulnerable’ Syrians. Given the state’s
exclusionary character, what opportunities do other spaces in
international politics offer by way of hospitality to migrants and
refugees?
Hospitality can take many different forms and have many
diverse purposes. But wherever it occurs, the boundaries that enable it
and make it possible are both created and unsettled via exercises of
power and their resistance. Through modern examples including refugee
camps, global cities, postcolonial states and Europe, as well as
analysis of Derridean and Foucauldian concepts, Migration, Ethics and
Power explores:
- The process and practice of hospitality
- The spaces that hospitality produces
- The intimate relationship between ethics and power
This is a brilliantly contemporary text for students of politics, international relations and political geography.
