An affective and posthumanist cosmopolitan hospitality

Abstract

This conceptual article argues for revisiting and revising notions of cosmopolitanism and hospitality in light of the increasingly interconnected local to global domain of contemporary tourism. We briefly trace the contributions of three key philosophers in modernity who have contributed to the theorization of these concepts: Immanuel Kant, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jacques Derrida. We then note some shortcomings of these approaches for contemporary problems of cosmopolitan hospitality and argue that Gilles Deleuze's conceptual apparatus enables a novel theorization to overcome the limitations of current approaches. This is done through an affective and posthumanist perspective, which introduces a new ethical understanding of cosmopolitan hospitality, dissolves problematic conceptual dualisms, and puts the focus on relational encounters, beyond spatiality.