Ghosts, Guests, Hosts: Rethinking “Illegal” Migration and Hospitality Through Arab Diasporic Literature

This article examines and compares narratives of migration developed by contemporary Arab diasporic writers living in North America (both in the United States and Quebec) and in Europe (France and Italy). These writers, I argue, chronicle the painful and often banished from view experience of contemporary “illegal” migrants, anchoring the singular fictional or autobiographical story to the “real” world of migration and to the larger sociopolitical and historical context. Through an original style that blends fresh creativity and deep humanity, the writers addressed in this article complicate mainstream representations of migrants as threatening Others or unwelcomed guests; they further resituate hospitality at the center of current discussions about migration, surprising the reader with creative reformulations of Derrida’s conceptualization of hospitality that are both entertaining and politically engaged.