On online practices of hospitality in higher education

Imperiale, M. G., Phipps, A. and Fassetta, G. (2021) On online practices of hospitality in higher education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 40(6), pp. 629-648. (doi: 10.1007/s11217-021-09770-z)

Abstract

This article contributes to conversations on hospitality in educational settings, with a focus on higher education and the online context. We integrate Derrida’s ethics of hospitality framework with a focus on practices of hospitality, including its affective and material, embodied dimension (Zembylas: Stud Philos Educ 39:37–50, 2019). This article offers empirical examples of practices of what we termed ‘virtual academic hospitality’: during a series of online collaborative and cross borders workshops with teachers of English based in the Gaza Strip (Palestine), we performed academic hospitality through virtual convivial rituals and the sharing of virtual gifts, which are illustrated here. We propose a revision of the concept of academic hospitality arguing that: firstly, academic hospitality is not limited to intellectual conversations; secondly, that the relationship between hospitality and mobility needs to be revised, since hospitality mediated by the technological medium can be performed, and technology may even stretch hospitality towards the unreachable ‘unconditional hospitality’ theorised by Derrida (Of hospitality: Anne Dufourmantelle invited Jacques Derrida to respond. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2000); and thirdly, that indigenous epistemics, with their focus on the affective, may offer alternative understandings of conviviality within the academy. These points may contribute to the collective development of a new paradigmatic understanding of hospitality, one which integrates Western and indigenous traditions of hospitality, and which includes the online environment.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Phipps, Professor Alison and Imperiale, Dr Maria Grazia and Fassetta, Dr Giovanna
• Authors: Imperiale, M. G., Phipps, A., and Fassetta, G.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education; College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Culture, Literacies, Inclusion & Pedagogy
• Journal Name: Studies in Philosophy and Education
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 0039-3746
• ISSN (Online): 1573-191X
• Published Online: 28 June 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © Crown 2021
• First Published: First published in Studies in Philosophy and Education 40(6): 629-648
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
190676		Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law, and the State	Alison Phipps	Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)	AH/L006936/1	ED - Education