At the Threshold with Simone Weil: a Political Theory of Migration and Refuge
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At the Threshold with Simone Weil: A Political Theory of Migration and Refuge by David L. G. Rice Department of Political Science Duke University Date: _____________ Approved: _______________________ Ruth W. Grant, Supervisor _______________________ Romand Coles _______________________ J. Peter Euben _______________________ Stanley Hauerwas _______________________ Thomas Spragens Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Duke University 2012 ABSTRACT At the Threshold with Simone Weil: A Political Theory of Migration and Refuge by David L. G. Rice Department of Political Science Duke University Date: _____________ Approved: _______________________ Ruth W. Grant, Supervisor _______________________ Romand Coles _______________________ J. Peter Euben _______________________ Stanley Hauerwas _______________________ Thomas Spragens An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Political Science in the Graduate School of Duke University 2012 Copyright by David Laurence Gonzalez Rice 2012 Abstract The persistent presence of refugees challenges political theorists to rethink our approaches to citizenship and national sovereignty. I look to philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943), who brings to the Western tradition her insight as a refugee who attended to other refugees. Deploying the tropes of Threshold, Refuge, and Attention (which I garner and elaborate from her writings) I read Weil as an eminently political theorist whose practice of befriending political strangers maintains the urgent, interrogative insight of the refugee while tempering certain “temptations of exile.” On my reading, Weil’s body of theory travels physically and conceptually among plural, intersecting, and conflicting bodies politic, finding in each a source of limited, imperfect, and precious Refuge. I then put Weil into conversation with several contemporary scholars - Michael Walzer, Martha Nussbaum, and Kwame Anthony Appiah - each of whom takes up a problematic between duties to existing political community and the call to engagements with political strangers. Bringing Weilian theory to bear on this conversation, I argue that polity depends deeply on those who heed the call to assume variously particular, vocational, and unenforceable duties across received borders. Finally, by way of furthering Weil’s incomplete experiments in Attention to the other, I look to “accompaniment” and related strategies adopted by human rights activists in recent decades in the Americas. These projects, I suggest, display many traits in common with Weil’s political sensibility, but they also demonstrate possibilities beyond those imagined by Weil herself. As such, they provide practical guidance to those of us confronting political failures and refugee flows in the Western hemisphere today. I iv conclude that politico-humanitarian movements’ own bodies of theory and practice point the way to sustained, cross-border, political relations. v For Gerardo, my host. vi Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... ix Prologue: Returnees and Migrants ...................................................................................1 Introduction: Refugee Theory ..........................................................................................3 A Theorist of Refuge ...................................................................................................3 Reading Weil: Orienting Tropes and Interpretive Tactics ........................................... 12 Chapter One: Weil at the Threshold ............................................................................... 18 Threshold Partisanship ............................................................................................... 21 Toward the Nation: a Cautious Approach................................................................... 33 From the Threshold of the World to that of the Church .............................................. 47 Resistance and Resignation ........................................................................................ 60 Attending to the Threshold......................................................................................... 72 Chapter Two: The Good of Refuge ................................................................................ 77 In Itself vs. For Itself.................................................................................................. 77 The Human Soul ........................................................................................................ 84 The Needs of the Soul ................................................................................................ 93 Enrootedness ........................................................................................................... 100 What is a Patrie? ..................................................................................................... 107 From Threshold to Refuge ....................................................................................... 130 Chapter Three: Cosmopolitan Patriots.......................................................................... 134 Walzer’s Bounded Community ................................................................................ 137 Nussbaum’s Departure from the Cosmopolis ........................................................... 156 Appiah: Partial Cosmopolitanism and Patriotism for the State.................................. 174 Walzer Crosses the Border ....................................................................................... 193 Chapter Four: Practices of Attention ............................................................................ 200 Scarry's Concern ...................................................................................................... 200 The Problem of Attention ........................................................................................ 206 The Accompaniment Project .................................................................................... 221 The Sanctuary Movement ........................................................................................ 233 Hospitality Patrols ................................................................................................... 248 Vocation and Initiative at the Border ........................................................................ 261 vii Conclusion: Xenophilia ............................................................................................... 269 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 273 Biography: ................................................................................................................... 281 viii Acknowledgements Like any work, this one results from many efforts besides those of the author. I owe significant debts of gratitude to many individuals and communities. Among my teachers at Duke: I thank Rom Coles for his encouragement, his intellectual model, and his faith in this project. Rom understood from the beginning – often better than I - what I hoped to accomplish here. Peter Euben introduced me to Weil, and he suggested I read her in terms of founding and refounding. Ruth Grant insisted I take seriously the problem of puritan and anti-political tendencies in the pacifists and radicals to whom I am consistently drawn, leading my argument down subtler and ultimately more promising paths. The instruction of Tom Spragens especially informed my analysis of the debate around cosmopolitanism. Finally, from Stanley Hauerwas I continue to learn this important lesson: that peacemaking cannot be practiced alone. I have benefited greatly from the guidance and insight of many other mentors and colleagues. My first teachers, Mary and Daniel Rice, homeschooled me from kindergarten through high school. The critical skills and love of learning they instilled in me have served me well in my pursuit of higher education. At Rutgers, professors Richard Wilson, Steve Bronner, and Paul Clemens provided opportunities for intellectual work that were crucial to my decision to pursue academic political theory. Susan Bickford, who served on my prospectus committee, provided vital, early feedback, especially with regard to the problem of Attention. Mary Dietz provided a much-needed model for taking seriously Weil’s question: “is what she says true?” I ix thank her for an insightful, encouraging, and timely conversation about Weil’s place in political theory. Mark Antliff enthusiastically reviewed my early Introduction and helped me situate Weil in her historical context. Guillermo Trejo and Paul Apostolidis helped me figure out how to combine theoretical work with a thick description of social movements for human rights in the Americas. Asma Abbas and her seminar students at Simon’s Rock gave me the rare opportunity to present my work to an audience familiar with Weil and her writings. Their probing questions helped me bring this project to a satisfying close. My peers in and beyond graduate school provided essential support. I want to thank in