Hospitality in times of COVID-19: An evaluation in the context of the Baumanian concept of hospitality

The COVID-19 pandemic affected millions directly (by getting infected) or indirectly (by the disease’s economic, social and political repercussions). These effects are multiplied for the vulnerable groups. This article focuses on the situation of immigrants and the inhospitableness shown to them when they need hospitality the most. Our theoretical background for hospitality is based on Baumanian thought and his inspirations from Kant, Levinas and Derrida. While the Baumanian perspective of ‘hospitality as a consumption practice’ is key to evaluating the hospitality denied to ‘vulnerable people’ today, it falls short of elaborating the stigmatizing and exclusionary xenophobic reactions during this pandemic. From this context, this study focuses on evaluating the xenophobic acts experienced in times of COVID-19 from the perspective of Baumanian hospitality and aims to show that consumption practices are not the only impediment to achieving hospitality.