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The Immigrant's Chosen Distance

Being and Nothingness

This thread follows how distance, exile, and national belonging become meanings within an individual's freely chosen situation.

increasingupBearing stren­gth in each eventdowndecreasing
A Home as CenterA Home as Center from "Being and Nothingness". A Home as Center Absolute Reference A person's home and surroundings organize distances and directions. They form the center from which a world is disclosed.
A Home as Center Absolute Reference A person's home and surroundings organize distances and directions. They form the center from which a world is disclosed. Facticity That center is received rather than chosen, yet the person must continually live and interpret it.
Distance Becomes ExileDistance Becomes Exile from "Being and Nothingness". Distance Becomes Exile A Projected Relation A faraway place becomes exile only in relation to a home or an end the person longs to reach.
Distance Becomes Exile A Projected Relation A faraway place becomes exile only in relation to a home or an end the person longs to reach. Distance is practical and affective. Meaning The same geography can appear as a route, obstacle, refuge, or loss under different projects.
The Other Names the PersonThe Other Names the Person from "Being and Nothingness". The Other Names the Person Public Category Others may treat a person as belonging to a nation, race, or class.
The Other Names the Person Public Category Others may treat a person as belonging to a nation, race, or class. Those categories shape access and refusal in the world. Alienated Identity The person encounters these meanings as real limits without being able to experience them exactly as others do.
Assuming the SituationAssuming the Situation from "Being and Nothingness". Assuming the Situation No Escape from Choice The person can resist an imposed condition or incorporate it into a project, but cannot make it disappear by…
Assuming the Situation No Escape from Choice The person can resist an imposed condition or incorporate it into a project, but cannot make it disappear by refusing it. Responsibility The meaning of exile, home, and identity depends on the way the person assumes the given.
A Life in PlaceA Life in Place from "Being and Nothingness". A Life in Place Situated Freedom The person is neither a product of geography nor an unconditioned will.
A Life in Place Situated Freedom The person is neither a product of geography nor an unconditioned will. Freedom exists by taking a position within a concrete world. Open Destiny The chosen relation to place can change, but every new project inherits the facticity of what has already been lived.
Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, opening account of place
Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, discussion of distance and expatriation
Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, discussion of national identity
Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, discussion of freedom and circumstance
Part Four, Chapter One, Section II, conclusion