The Home of Philosophy: Home as a Metaphor in Thought, 16.11.21
Third lecture by Prof. Annabel Herzog, University of Haifa
A lecture series moderated by Dr. Raef Zreik, Tel Aviv University, Ono Academic College, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
Derrida’s work focuses on the relationships between identity and alterity, and, from this, between “being home” and being other, outside, foreign. He’s famous for deconstructing identity and showing that there is exteriority in all constructs of “home.” The implications of these analyses are political and ethical: Being home involves a certain form of power that Derrida calls “sovereignty” together with a certain form of responsibility that he calls “hospitality.”
In this lecture series we will consider current global issues with the help of metaphors of home and exile, identity and nonidentity, hominess and estrangement. We will ask questions about the meaning of home, and what do people desire when they want to be at home, what are its constituents, the relation between being at home and the question of identity, between home and property, between home and homeland, homeland and populism, homeland and sovereignty, homeland and hospitality, exile and critique. We will further reflect on the morality of being at home, politics of identity, the problem of refugees, immigration, and xenophobia. We hope that through these series of questions we will touch upon the way these themes can shed a light on the way we perceive the reality in Israel-Palestine and how it can shape our political imagination.