The Care of Strangers

Abstract

Using the story of Antigone as a foil, this essay attempts to reframe questions of legal responsibility in the case of asylum and refugee law through the lens of Emmanuel Levinas. Using this framework, the article argues that questions of sovereignty must be recast as questions of hospitality. The fundamental test of justice is one of hospitality to the stranger. Too bad for us, but we do not have a say in the matter. In this, we are already the chosen people.

Keywords: asylum, refugee law, hospitality, sovereignty, migration law, Antigone, Levinas