Ethics of Hospitality


Book Description

The source of hospitality lies in the fundamental ethical experiences that make up the fabric of the social lives of people. Therein lies a primary form of humanity. Whether we are guests or hosts, this reveals our situation in a world made up of receiving and meeting, leaving room for the liberty to give and receive beyond the imperatives of reciprocity. This book proposes an ethic that promotes the possibility of stirring emotion before that of protecting ourselves from unexpected encounters. Fundamental ethical competence consists of opening up to the wholly other and to others, to be accessible to the world’s solicitations. There is moral superiority of vulnerable love over control and moderation, of generous passion over rational prudence and of excess over exchange. Constructing an ethic of hospitality is essential at a time when we are torn between the imperatives of modernization and growth and the demands of concern and protection. The experience we all have today, that of the fragility of the world, is giving rise to a powerful tendency toward solicitude. From such a perspective, the duty of individuals no longer consists of protecting themselves from society, but of defending it, taking care of a social fabric outside of which no identity can be formed.




An Ethic of Hospitality


Book Description

In our increasingly xenophobic world, countries are turning away refugees and immigrants. Based on the situation in Kenya, this book offers a countercultural ethic of hospitality and welcome to the stranger, an ethic fraught with dangers and yet filled with great opportunities for transforming our world. Drawing on the scriptural pilgrim motif and specifically on the book of Hebrews, this study paints a picture of refugees not only as needy strangers to be herded into camps, but as brothers and sisters who bring with them treasures and talents that can enrich our understanding of our Christian identity and mission as pilgrims in the world. The hospitality practice seen in Hebrews offers hope and promise not only for refugees themselves but also for the pilgrim church. Like the ancient heroes of faith portrayed in Hebrews, we too live as pilgrims and aliens who await with hope the city whose architect and founder is God. Refugees in fact teach us how to live our pilgrim identity: they become teachers not only for the church in Kenya but also for the body of Christ worldwide.




Unlocking the World


Book Description

"Unlocking the World "proposes hospitality as a guiding ethic for education. Based on the work of Jacques Derrida, it suggests that giving place to children and newcomers is at the heart of education. The primary responsibility of the host is not to assimilate newcomers into tradition but rather to create or leave a place where they may arrive. Hospitality as a guiding ethic for education is discussed in its many facets, including the decentered conception of subjectivity on which it relies, the way it casts the relation between teacher and student, and its conception of curriculum as an inheritance that asks for a critical reception. The book examines the relation between an ethic of hospitality and the educational contexts in which it would guide practice. Since these contexts are marked by gender, culture, and language, it asks how such differences affect enactments of hospitality. Since hospitality typically involves a power difference between host and guest, the book addresses how an ethic of hospitality accounts for power, whether it is appropriate for educational contexts marked by colonialism, and how it might guide education aimed at social justice."




Unlocking the World


Book Description

Unlocking the World proposes hospitality as a guiding ethic for education. Based on the work of Jacques Derrida, it suggests that giving place to children and newcomers is at the heart of education. The primary responsibility of the "host" is not to assimilate newcomers into tradition but rather to create or leave a place where they may arrive. Hospitality as a guiding ethic for education is discussed in its many facets, including the decentered conception of subjectivity on which it relies, the way it casts the relation between teacher and student, and its conception of curriculum as an inheritance that asks for a critical reception. The book examines the relation between an ethic of hospitality and the educational contexts in which it would guide practice. Since these contexts are marked by gender, culture, and language, it asks how such differences affect enactments of hospitality. Since hospitality typically involves a power difference between host and guest, the book addresses how an ethic of hospitality accounts for power, whether it is appropriate for educational contexts marked by colonialism, and how it might guide education aimed at social justice.




The Limits of Hospitality


Book Description

Practicing hospitality is central to building a civil society, not to mention living a Christian life. It can be enriching and joy-filled, but it can also be profoundly demanding and sometimes even dangerous. In The Limits of Hospitality, Jessica Wrobleski explores the ethical questions surrounding the practice of hospitality, particularly hospitality that is informed by Christian theological commitments. While there is no algorithm that distinguishes between ethically "legitimate: " and "llegitimate" boundaries, the variety of circumstances in which hospitality is relevant and the nature of hospitality itself make advocating firm and fixed boundaries difficult. How much more so for Christians, for whom the practice of hospitality should be a manifestation of agape, a participation in God's eschatological welcome extended to all people through Jesus Christ! Are limits to hospitality, then, merely a regrettable concession to our finite and fallen condition? Wrobleski offers a rich theological reflection that will interest anyone who has a role in the practice of hospitality in community? Whether such communities are families, households, churches, educational institutions, or nation-states.







Of Hospitality


Book Description

Consisting of two texts on facing pages, the form of this presentation of two 1996 lectures on hospitality by Jacques Derrida is a self-conscious enactment of its content. Invitation by Anne Dufourmantelle appears on the left (an invitation that of course originates a response), clarifying and inflecting Derrida's "response" on the right.




Ethics in Hospitality Management


Book Description




Phenomenologies of the Stranger


Book Description

What is strange? Or better, who is strange? When do we encounter the strange? This volume takes the question of hosting the Stranger to the deeper level of embodied imagination and the senses.It asks: How does the embodied imagination relate to the Stranger in terms of hospitality or hostility (given the common root of hostis as both host and enemy)? How do humans sensethe dimension of the strange and alien in different religions, arts, and cultures? How do the five physical senses relate to the spiritual senses, especially the famous sixthsense, as portals to an encounter with the Other? Is there a carnal perception of alterity, which would operate at an affective, prereflective, preconscious level? What exactly do embodied imaginariesof hospitality and hostility entail? And what, finally, are the topical implications of these questions for an ethics and practice of tolerance and peace?




Mobilizing Hospitality


Book Description

The concept of ’mobility’ has sparked lively academic debate in recent years. Drawing on research from the fields of anthropology, geography, sociology and tourism studies, this volume examines the intersection between mobility and hospitality, highlighting the issues that emerge as we encounter strangers in a mobile world. Through a series of diverse empirical accounts, it focuses on the transnational movement of people in the contexts of migration and tourism and examines how hospitality serves as a way of promoting and policing encounters, questioning how these relations are marked by exclusion as well as inclusion, and by violence as well as by kindness. In addition to exploring the power relations between mobile populations (hosts and guests) and attitudes (hospitality and hostility), the book also examines spaces of hospitality and mobility, such as cities, hotels, clubs, cafes, spas, asylums, restaurants, homes and homepages. In doing so, it makes a significant contribution to the political and ethical dimensions of mobile social relations.