Current and future potentialities of critical hospitality studies: a conference workshop report

What is it about?

This conference workshop aimed to create a space for scholars to engage and canvass opinions on the current and future potentialities of critical hospitality studies. Four main topics – (1) current situation, (2) areas of potential growth, (3) challenges and (4) future possibilities of critical hospitality studies – were explored by utilizing the Ketso toolkit (http://www.ketso.com) developed by Dr Joanne Tippett at the University of Manchester.

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Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash

Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash

Why is it important?

While the concept of hospitality is associated with notions of friendliness, welcoming openness and moral obligations to the strangeness, there is a rather negative perception associated with hospitality as an economic sector, and it has been regularly portrayed as merely a ‘pot and pans’ industry with low social esteem. This dissonance, as highlighted by one commentator from the workshop, is crucial to address, as the practice of hospitality by practitioners in the T&H industries should be shaped, and guided by a deeper understanding of hospitality as a social force that is grounded in every day of human interactions.