Hospitality and the Enlightenment (Encountering China): A Conversation with Immanuel Kant and Jacques...

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Anni Greve

Hospitality and the Enlightenment (Encountering China)

A Conversation with Immanuel Kant and Jacques Derrida

Anni Greve

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English

Routledge
31 July 2025

European history; Early modern history: c 1450 to c 1700; Social & cultural history; Industrialisation & industrial history; Urban communities

Series: Routledge Research in Early Modern History

With the change of power in Washington, the word ‘Enlightenment’ has taken on a dramatic topicality that no one could have wished for. The wisdom of the eighteenth century could not be more relevant. This book demonstrates a relationship between hospitality towards the foreigner and the European Enlightenment – a relationship that is relevant to today’s landscape.

Greve begins by unfolding the philosophy of hospitality by reading both Immanuel Kant and Jacques Derrida. Next, she tunes in on China in global history to discuss: the kind of hospitality offered to all foreigners with the Canton system of 1757; the hospitality offered to Sephardic diaspora groups involved in credit relations; and Macau, a free port city, a rehearsal space for friendship and conversation.

Then, the book turns to Copenhagen during the Age of the Enlightenment to look more closely at a burgeoning layer of ‘bourgeoisie’ involved in financial speculation abroad. What significance did the circulation of merchant letters from the Pearl River Delta have for conversations in Copenhagen? It also points to the significance of ‘free’ port cities for the spirit of the Enlightenment.

Finally, the book returns to contemporary China. What has the opening of China in the ‘new era’ after Mao Zedong implied? And how do we understand a desire for a ‘New Enlightenment’, first in the late 1980s in Beijing and then in the 2020s in the ‘free’ port city of Hong Kong?

The volume is a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in the Enlightenment, diaspora studies, Sephardic Jews, urban studies, philosophy, sociology, and China in global history.

By: Anni Greve
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 630g
ISBN: 9781041072140
ISBN 10: 1041072147
Series: Routledge Research in Early Modern History
Pages: 246
Publication Date: 31 July 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Anni Greve is Associate Professor of Sociology, emerita, at Roskilde University, with specialist interests in cosmopolitanism, urbanism, and the social sciences. She is the author of Sanctuaries of the City – Lessons from Tokyo (Ashgate 2011, Routledge 2016).