Hospitality, Peace and Conflict: “Doing Fieldwork” in Palestine

The Journal of Tourism and Peace Research, 2(2), 2012, pp. 50-61

Dorina Maria Buda and Alison Jane McIntosh, Hospitality, Peace and Conflict: “Doing Fieldwork” in Palestine

Hospitality, Peace and Conflict: “Doing Fieldwork” in Palestine

Dorina Maria Buda, The University of Waikato, New Zealand, dorinab@waikato.ac.nz

Alison Jane McIntosh, The University of Waikato, New Zealand,

mcintosh@mngt.waikato.ac.nz

____________________________________________________________________________

Abstract

The focus of this paper is the interconnections among in/hospitality, peace, conflict and

tourism. Using excerpts from interview notes and a field diary, the paper presents and debates

the complex and embodied connections between a Palestinian local host, some tourists and a

tourism researcher. Analysis of the data reveals the emotional entanglements experienced

within the empathetic space formed during interviews with the distressed local host in

Bethlehem. Her tragic stories of living under occupation touched the heart of the researcher.

Feelings of sorrow, helplessness, anger, discomfort and guilt were negotiated. In this light, the

paper contributes discussions and thinking on the emotional, situated and reflexive

implications of fieldwork interactions in an area of ongoing conflict.

Key words: emotions, hospitality, hostility, peace and conflict.

___________________________________________________________________________

Introduction

In this research we seek to analyse the nature of tourism experiences in a context of

in/hospitality, peace, conflict and tourism occurring in a region of ongoing conflict, namely the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More specifically, we examine the emotional interactions between

a Palestinian host, some tourists and the first researcher during an organised tour to the

Palestinian host’s souvenir shop in Bethlehem. The emotional nature of the encounter is

perhaps not surprising given the politically unstable context of...