Welcoming the masses, entitling the stranger – commentary to Gill

Abstract

Identity politics create distinctions, narratives and shared conceptions, and where distinctions can be made, differences arise. Contemporary states, organisations, companies and communities have procedures to level out these social boundaries, but the process of hospitality and welcome is at times more problematic than exclusion. The key question concerns the universality of welcome. If our welcome is extended to the masses, is the mass itself defined and delimited and, second, how does a general welcome condition everyday encounters with the (entitled) stranger. In this reflection, we concentrate on the concept of welcome on two different levels. The mass and interpersonal encounters and argue that whether refugees, migrants or tourists the spatiality of the welcome needs to be considered from both individual and collective viewpoints.