Hospitality and eroticism

Abstract

Purpose -This paper aims to provoke discussion and reflection on the role of the erotic in the cultivation of spaces of hospitality, and to provide a theoretical consideration of the structural similarities of hospitality and eroticism. Design/methodology/approach -With reference to classical studies as well as debates in the social science literature, the paper starts by examining some of the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings to hospitality and eroticism. It then develops this analysis by considering examples drawn from ethnographic studies of "traditional" hospitality settings as well as of commercial hospitality environments of charter tourism. Findings -The main outcome of the discussion is to demonstrate the structural relations between hospitality and eroticism. By situating the analysis within a broad theoretical and ethnographic context, it is shown that the erotic has historically functioned as a socially-binding and communicative mode of social intercourse that, while undermined by the demands of a market-based culture of commercial hospitality, is also able to flourish within these same adverse conditions. Research limitations/implications -This paper invites further research into the connections between hospitality and eroticism in settings similar to and different from those described in the paper. A fuller ethnographic study of the relationship between the two is needed, as well as an exploration of more theoretical perspectives on hospitality drawn from the social science literature. Practical implications -By highlighting the socially binding role of eroticism in the structuring of host-guest relations, the paper draws on and contributes to a broader politics of love and sensuality that will inform critical reflections on commercial and market-driven hospitality practices. Originality/value -This paper provides an original insight into the interrelationship between hospitality and eroticism. It further illuminates previous writings on both subjects but particularly that of eroticism and is supported by empirical data. It is of particular interest to those studying hospitality from a social science perspective.

Creating the Tourist Product in the Opposition Between Self-Actualization and Collective Consumption

“…Moreover, a number of the informants distanced themselves emotionally and physically from other tourists, guides, and organizers so as to not be limited in living out their individual dreams, managing their individual consumption of time. This is consistent with the work of Andrews et al (2007), suggesting a competition between different parties in shaping the tourist product, and in line with Jacobsen’s (1997, 2000) description of antitourist attitudes. However, the distancing of oneself from organized activities also limited a number of informants in aligning their actions with their expectations.…”

“…This is because the consumption of a travel product is always subjective even though it includes objective features such as booked flights and accommodation. Moreover, the consumption of tourist services involves social activities and can be challenged by interaction with other unpredictable individuals including hotel staff, guides, other tourists, and the local population—actors that sometimes have different interests and may try to dominate each other (Andrews, Roberts, & Selwyn, 2007; Hanefors & Larsson, 1993).…”

The discourse of risk in horror movies post 9/11: hospitality and hostility in perspective

“…While in ancient times strangers were regarded with suspicion and fear, in some cultures strangers were seen as sacred messengers requiring hospitality, thus making hospitality to strangers a sacred duty and a legal responsibility [Cohen, (1998), p.3;Olsen (2011);Sorensen, (2005), pp.5-6]. Whether hospitality extended to strangers came in the form of food, shelter, or sexual pleasures (Andrews et al, 2007;Quinn, 2008), hospitality implied the lack of aggression between strangers or independent groups of people.…”

Fatal embrace: trading in hospitality on the frontiers of South and Central Asia

“…These revellers pick up the first girls they encounter in restaurants and, without thinking, bring them back to the apartments of their hosts, only to discover that the girl already has ‘a line’ with a policemen, who is to be found knocking on the door and asking for a bribe ( rishwat ) before those inside have had the opportunity to pop open even so much as a bottle of ‘Vodka Tajikistan’. Hospitality's erotic dimensions and the ‘skilful symbolic deployment of objects such as food, clothing, perfume, and decorations’ that ‘animate the flowering of senses of individual pleasure, domestic well‐being and social satisfaction’ (Andrews, Roberts & Selwyn 2007: 256‐7) are well documented. Yet if scholars have noted how the ‘commercialization’ of hospitality's erotic dimensions leads to the detachment of these from their ‘moral underpinnings’, they have recognized less the critical role that a nexus of the hospitality/erotic plays in the surveillance and taxation of commercial actors themselves 17…”