Definition: Host
Depending on the country the host is based in; its customs as to how it interacts with the guests can change. For example, in the Turkey and the Caucasus regions, they split “the house into male...and female parts” and the male host plays the dominant role while his female counterpart rarely interacts with the guests (Babich). However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, women almost completely control the role of the host, and are known for their hospitality to their guests (Declich). Though many specific customs differ across regions, it seems that all hosts treat their guests differently based aspects such as their honorability, age, talents, relationship to the host, and their reasons for travel (Babich).
The goal of the host is also always to provide some level of hospitality to the guest but the level of interaction with the guest decreases as the size of the hosting entity increases. For example, a host country would have less personal interaction with the guest that a host family would with their guest. Since the role a host plays differs from country to country and with the size of the host, the exact definition of a role of a host will slightly change as these aspects change. The definition of a host can also slightly changed when it is defined through a religious perspective. For example, in Muslim literature, the host also has a responsibility to provide protection to their guests (Declich).
Since host countries do not have as much personal interaction with their guests, and will have a larger volume of guests than a single host family, less attention is given to the specific characteristics of each guest so most are treated in the same fashion regardless of their honorability, age, or reasons for travel. This means that the guests will have a huge range of experiences in the host country, both good and bad. One thing that affects the experience of a guest in a host country is the relationship between the host country and the guest’s country of origin. If the relationship between the two is bad, the guest may have a more difficult time assimilating into the host country and obtaining services like health care from the host country (Coker). Host countries also have different obligations to their guests than that of host families. Though both maintain the basic definition of providing a place to stay, a host country must also provide some services to the guests as they would for their citizens (health care, education, etc.). Though the host countries do not always follow through on this, in a study of refugees from former Yugoslavia about their satisfaction with the support from their host countries in Europe, it was found that “99.3% of refugees received some kind of support” from their host countries, which shows that most countries do fulfill their responsibility as host (Zepinic).
Host can also have a more personal definition. From the point of view of a refugee, a host could resemble a new home, hope, and salvation. For a guest or student staying with a host family, host could mean family, new experiences, and a different way of life. Though a host is always an entity providing a place to stay to a guest, this word can have a multitude of connotations, making it mean a slightly different thing to everyone who interacts with a host.
Works Cited
Babich, Irina. "Hospitality: Turkey and the Caucasus." Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures. General Editor Suad Joseph. Brill Online, 2016.Reference. University of Texas at Austin. 9 February 2016.
Coker, Elizabeth. "Migration: Refugees and Health: Arab States (including the Kurds)." Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures. General Editor Suad Joseph. Brill Online, 2016. Reference. University of Texas at Austin. 9 February 2016.
Declich, Francesca. "Hospitality: Sub-Saharan Africa." Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures. General Editor Suad Joseph. Brill Online, 2016.Reference. University of Texas at Austin. 9 February 2016.
Zepinic, Vito, Maria Bogic, and Stefan Priebe. “Refugees’ Views of the Effectiveness of Support Provided by Their Host Countries.” European Journal of Psychotraumatology 3 (2012): 10.3402/ejpt.v3i0.8447. PMC. Web. 9 Feb. 2016.