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American Ethnologist - 2023 - Al%E2%80%90Khalili - Rescaling hospitality.pdf (210.96 kB)

Rescaling hospitality: everyday displacement at the Syrian-Turkish border

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posted on 2023-06-15, 15:46 authored by Charlotte Al KhaliliCharlotte Al Khalili
As demonstrated in an ethnographic description of displaced Syrians living in Gaziantep, Turkey, hospitality fails when it is captured by a state that transforms ethical-religious duties into legal obligations. Indeed, Syrian “guests” cannot reciprocate state hospitality because they do not belong to the same scale; moreover, they refuse their guest status, claiming to be refugees and thus subjects of law rather than favor. This scalar confusion also puts Turkish locals in a delicate position, since hospitality's very purpose is defeated by the rescaling of duty-based hospitality and the state's injunction that locals play host to displaced Syrians. The rescaling of hospitality and the confusion of its moral, religious, and legal registers thus alienate local hosts and guests, creating hostility, as hosts and guests characterize each other as “bad.” Eventually, hospitality's dead ends lead Syrians to aspire to become refugees, to imagine new migratory horizons, and to follow novel routes to living with dignity.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

American Ethnologist

ISSN

0094-0496

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

2

Volume

50

Page range

309-320

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2023-05-02

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2023-05-02

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2023-05-02

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