Hospitality

Etymology

Derives from the Latin hospes, meaning "host", "guest", or "stranger". Hospes is formed from hostis, which means "stranger" or "enemy" (the latter being where terms like "hostile" derive). By metonymy the Latin word 'Hospital' means a guest-chamber, guest's lodging, an inn. Hospes is thus the root for the English words host (where the p was dropped for convenience of pronunciation), hospitality, hospice, hostel and hotel.

Historical practice

In ancient cultures hospitality involved welcoming the stranger and offering him food, shelter, and safety.

Ancient Greece

In Ancient Greece, hospitality was right, with the host being expected to make sure the needs of his guests were met. The ancient Greek term xenia, or theoxenia when a god was involved, expressed this ritualized guest-friendship relation. In Greek society a person's ability to abide by the laws of hospitality determined nobility and social standing. The Stoics regarded hospitality as a duty inspired by Zeus himself.

India

In India hospitality is based on the principle Atithi Devo Bhava, meaning "the guest is God". This principle is shown in a number of stories where a guest is revealed to be a god who rewards the provider of hospitality. From this stems the Indian practice of graciousness towards guests at home and in all social situations.

Judaism

Judaism praises hospitality to strangers and guests based largely on the examples of Abraham and Lot in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 18:1–8 and 19:1–8). In Hebrew, the practice is called hachnasat orchim, or "welcoming guests". Besides other expectations, hosts are expected to provide nourishment, comfort, and entertainment for their guests, and at the end of the visit, hosts customarily escort their guests out of their home, wishing them a safe journey.

Pashtun

One of the main principles of Pashtunwali is Melmastia. This is the display of hospitality and profound respect to all visitors (regardless of race, religion, national affiliation or economic status) without any hope of remuneration or favour. Pashtuns will go to great lengths to show their hospitality.

Celtic cultures

Celtic societies also valued the concept of hospitality, especially in terms of protection. A host who granted a person's request for refuge was expected not only to provide food and shelter for his/her guest, but to make sure they did not come to harm while under their care.

Current usage

In the West today hospitality is rarely a matter of protection and survival and is more associated with etiquette and entertainment. However, it still involves showing respect for one's guests, providing for their needs, and treating them as equals. Cultures and subcultures vary in the extent to which one is expected to show hospitality to strangers, as opposed to personal friends or members of one's ingroup.

Anthropology of Hospitality

Jacques Derrida offers a model to understand hospitality that divides unconditional hospitality from conditional hospitality. Over the centuries, philosophers have devoted considerable attention to the problem of hospitality. However, hospitality offers a paradoxical situation (like language) since inclusion of those who are welcomed in the sacred law of hospitality implies others will be rejected. Julia Kristeva (1991) alerts readers to the dangers of “perverse hospitality”, which consists of taking advantage of the vulnerability of aliens to dispossess them. Hospitality serves to reduce the tension in the process of host-guest encounters, producing a liminal zone that combines curiosity about others and fear of strangers. In general terms, the meaning of hospitality centres on the belief that strangers should be assisted and protected while traveling. However, not all voices are in agreement with this concept. Professor Anthony Pagden describes how the concept of hospitality was historically manipulated to legitimate the conquest of Americas by imposing the right of free transit, which was conducive to the formation of the modern nation-state. This suggests that hospitality is a political institution which can be ideologically deformed to oppress others.

Over recent years and following Padgen, Maximiliano Korstanje argued that hospitality is an intertribal pact in which groups agree on self-defence in times of war and an exchange of goods and merchandise in peacetime. REF. Since the inception of the nation-state, the western concept of hospitality has been proposed as the main criteria for the free circulation and mobility of people and the main cultural value of modern capitalism. Hospitality depends on the giving-while-receiving process which is the touchstone of social bonds. Hospitality and religion are also inextricably entwined. In the same way that the soul is protected by gods of the hereafter, strangers should be assisted while travelling. Failure to care for strangers is punished by the gods, who send calamities, earthquakes and other types of disaster. A lack of hospitality may be seen to predict the triumph of evil. In legends, myths and horror-movies, rogues often violate their guests, concealing their real intentions and then seizing them when sleeping. The guest-host meeting necessarily engenders high levels of vulnerability and risk, which are mitigated by the "sacred law of hospitality" where both agree not to attack the other while under the same roof. In view of the advance of secularization, the practice of unconditional hospitality has given way to a new sort of hospitality only for those who can pay for it.