Derrida's "Odyssey": Hospitality, Borders, and the Meaning of 'Xenia'

About this episode

Fall/Autumn 2026 Courses at AHRC: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-courses What do we really owe a stranger at the door, and what grounds that obligation? In this episode, Craig and Adam turn to Jacques Derrida's writing on hospitality to unpack Christopher Nolan's new adaptation of The Odyssey, tracing how xenia, the ancient Greek law of guest and host, becomes a lens for thinking through breaking Zeus's law, the massacre of the suitors, and the slow collapse of Bronze Age civilization. The conversation moves through Derrida's distinction between conditional and absolute hospitality, and what it means for a world where borders, asylum claims, and even hospitals have turned the promise of welcome into a catastrophe. It's Nolan's adaptation of Homer's epic read through Derrida: gods, guests, and the violence lurking underneath the oldest tablets of law. 'Does Psyche Matter?' Free AHRC public panel discussion: https://www.patreon.com/acidhorizonpodcast/posts/ahrc-free-public-166420416?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=web_share Support the show AHRC Current classes at Acid Horizon Research Commons (AHRC): acidhorizonresea