The Tensions of Belonging
Exile, Political Obligation and Loyalty between Judith Shklar and Hisham Matar
DOI :
https://doi.org/10.54103/balthazar/28598Mots-clés :
Political Obligation, Exile, Loyalty, ConflictRésumé
This article examines the tension between political obligation and personal loyalty in the context of exile, drawing on the theories of Judith Shklar and utilizing Hisham Matar’s literary work, My Friends (2023), as a primary analytical framework. Through an interdisciplinary investigation that interweaves political philosophy, history, and literature, the work examines how exile compels individuals to confront complex moral dilemmas, thereby questioning their relationships with the state, the community, and themselves. The examples presented in the essay provide a contemporary, narrative perspective on the fragmented identity of exile.
The essay highlights how Shklar’s thought, centred on the relationship between rationality and affectivity, offers crucial tools for interpreting the ethical and political challenges that characterize the experience of exile. At the same time, Matar’s work enriches this analysis, highlighting the personal and psychological implications of these dynamics. In conclusion, the article proposes that exile not only represents a condition of loss but also an opportunity to question the meaning of identity, loyalty and belonging in a globalized and fragmented world.
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Références
Barghouti Mourid, I Saw Ramallah, ed. by E. Said, translated by A. Soueif, New York (NY), Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2003.
Matar Hisham, My Friends, New York (NY), Random House, 2024.
Matar Hisham, The Return. Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between, London, Penguin Books, 2016.
Shklar Judith N., “LECTURE 2: Antigone”, in S. Ashenden, A. Hess (ed. by), On Political Obligation, New Haven (CT), Yale University Press, 2019, pp. 25-37.
Shklar Judith N., “LECTURE 23: The Bonds of Exile”, in S. Ashenden, A. Hess (ed. by), On Political Obligation, New Haven (CT), Yale University Press, 2019, pp. 204-212.
Shklar Judith N., “Obligation, Loyalty, Exile”, in S. Hoffman (ed. by), Political Thought Political Thinkers, Chicago (IL), The University of Chicago Press, 1998, pp. 38-55.
Shklar Judith N., “The Bonds of Exile”, in S. Hoffman (ed. by), Political Thought Politi-cal Thinkers, Chicago (IL), The University of Chicago Press, 1998, pp. 56-72.
Shklar Judith N., Ordinary Vices, Cambridge (MA), Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985.
Walzer Judith B., Oral History of the Tenured Women in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, 1981, in Harvard Dataverse, (https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CR02PG/VHWGVM).
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© Balthazar 2025
Cette œuvre est sous licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
Accepted 2025-06-07
Published 2025-07-14
