Hospitality as a Human Phenomenon: Host–Guest Relationships in a Post-Conflict Setting

Abstract

This paper explores relationships between the diaspora and the new hosts in the context of the post-conflict setting of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The complexity of this particular relationship cannot be conceptualised through the commercial lens of the host–guest relationship due to the transformability of the roles of the hosts and the guests in this particular context. The host–guest relationship is a social phenomenon. The study therefore suggests conceptualising host–guest relationships through the hospitality social lens framework. The study adopts a critical theory perspective, which creates emancipatory knowledge, giving voice to those themes and issues usually overlooked and marginalised, i.e. understanding host–guest relationships as a social phenomenon, not just a commercial transaction. This study recovers some of those marginalised perspectives through the interviews conducted with tourism decision makers in Bosnia and Herzegovina and overt participant observations of the guided tours in which the Bosnian diaspora took part.