Derrida's Unconditional Hospitality as the Improbable: An Example of Innovation in Refugee Care

Melissa Kerr Chiovenda

Social Science Quarterly, 2020, vol. 101, issue 7, 2437-2449

Abstract: Objective I contend that City Plaza, a refugee‐run hotel in Athens, Greece has actually used socialist and anarchist political theories in an innovative way for our current global system by subverting the norms of the nation‐state with regard to refugee care. I am framing this argument by considering Derrida's discussion of unconditional and conditional hospitality. Methods The article is based on ethnographic research carried out in Athens during the summers from 2016–2019. Results I suggest that in its innovative methods of providing refugee care, City Plaza is highly successful. Conclusion While Derrida contends that unconditional hospitality, the acceptance and embracing of the stranger without condition or question, is a moral imperative, realistically this is not possible in our current global system. I argue that at City Plaza, the improbable was achieved as a group of activists subverted the dominant system and yielded better results than state governments and international organizations with much greater resources.

Date: 2020
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