Ideas How guest-host power dynamics shape migration
Nov 25, 2025
Elena Asayev, an archaeologist rethinking migration through ancient insights, David Goldstein, a literature professor delving into biblical hospitality, and Sandy Hilal, an architect championing community projects, come together to explore hospitality's impact on migration. They discuss ancient Greek conventions of guest-host relationships and their contemporary significance. The conversation also touches on the vulnerability of hospitality, the blurring of host-guest roles, and the potential for grassroots actions to redefine who gets to welcome whom.
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Border Forest Rescue
- Petra Molnar found asylum seekers hiding in damp forests between Poland and Belarus and locals marking safe houses with green porch lights.
- She described the helplessness of finding a severely hypothermic pregnant woman and the local courage to offer shelter.
Hospitality As Moral Test
- Elena Asayev explains hospitality is central in ancient Greek texts like the Odyssey and shapes judgments about strangers.
- Hospitality framed whether visitors were seen as civilized or dangerous in those myths.
Medina's Welcoming Moment
- Basit Karim Iqbal recounts the Prophet Muhammad's flight to Medina where the Medinans welcomed him, founding a new community.
- That act of hospitality became foundational and is commemorated in the Islamic calendar.
