Theorising humanitarianism, home, and hospitality

This chapter details the three key concepts – humanitarianism, home, and hospitality – at the heart of this book, situating these as conceptual and theoretical framings for a critical understanding of hosting-at-home as a simultaneously everyday and global practice. In this chapter, these concepts are explored individually alongside reflections on their interconnectedness, considering how they have been addressed in International Relations scholarship. This chapter also examines the messy distinctions between public and private spheres that are part of critical debates about humanitarian politics, the home, and hospitality. It highlights how these are often presented as a binary within dominant conceptions of humanitarianism, hospitality and home, despite always and necessarily being interconnected – interconnections that are revealed through attention to the everyday politics of humanitarian hosting.