ABSTRACT
The idea that the elaboration of the ‘stranger in ourselves’—that is, of the unconscious—could offer a solution to problems of, for instance, xenophobia, may appear not only naive but also dishearteningly reductive. But it may also appear as a powerful ethics of alterity offering a feasible notion of a politics of alterity. Therefore, this chapter with such a formula and repeat the way in which Kristeva ends Strangers to Ourselves, and examines its premises and situates it in the context of modern political theory: first, through the question of universality itself and its place in a politics of negativity; second, through the concepts of recognition and social identity, and Kristeva's challenge to these concepts. Third, the chapter discusses the relation between recognition and love, and also examines Kristeva's thoughts on religion as a basis for the construction of bonds in the community.
