An anthropology of hospitality

Webs of Power: Multiple Ownership in Tourism Destinations

“…Upon tourists' arrival at a particular pansiyon, the pansiyon owner(s) proceed to endow them with hospitality, offering a free coffee or beer and inviting them on a sunset-viewing trip in the evening followed by a pansiyon barbecue complete with Turkish music and dancing. The giving and receiving of hospitality (food and drink, accommodation and entertainment) serves to engage principles of reciprocity between hosts and guests, and thus a complex set of international rules involving shared values and trust (Burgess 1982;Maus 1967;Selwyn 2000;Wood 1994). Hosts consequently hold a position of significant control over their guests, and this control emerges specifically from the social exchange of hospitality and the relationship which hence arises between the giver and the receiver.…”

The Production of Hospitable Space: Commercial Propositions and Consumer Co-Creation in a Bar Operation

“…Secondly, the study highlights the application and limitations of sociological and anthropological approaches to hospitality that were exemplified by Selwyn (2000). Hospitality undoubtedly has social functions in creating and developing relationships between individuals.…”

“…Selwyn (2000, p. 19), for example, argues that hospitality is a particular type of social practice in which "exchanges of goods and services, both material and symbolic" are used to establish new relationships or build existing ones. The provision of a physical space and sensory stimulus, the transactions of food and drink and performances of self have social functions in mediating relationships, reaffirming social structures while helping to construct host and guests' identities (Selwyn, 2000). This broader conception of hospitality helps to appreciate that offers of food, drink and shelter may be augmented by entertaining social intercourse and the provision of other forms of entertainment, for example music.…”

“…Neophytes were introduced to these drinks by existing patrons, and when these new customers returned they frequently bought these drinks for the people who accompanied them during subsequent visits. The house cocktails reflect Selwyn's (2000) argument that transactions of hospitality help to establish and reinforce social relations: the drinks point to a process of consumer socialization and the articulation of shared knowledge. More importantly, such activities also reflect the emergent nature of hospitable space.…”

“…It shifts the focus of inquiry beyond its mundane forms that are transacted in commercial venues for money. However, Selwyn (2000) is keen to maintain an analytical distinction between social forms of hospitality and that provided in commercial settings rather than using the former to understand the latter.…”