ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. The book introduces questions of context, historicity, temporality, space, mobility and social relations in order to complicate the meaning of hospitality. It describes the politics of mobility' and the ethics of hospitality'. The book explains some busy intersections: between politics and ethics, between tourism and migration, between travelling and dwelling, and between mobility and immobility. Hospitality is a profoundly evocative concept that reverberates with cultural, political and ethical undertones. In keeping with the story of the ship, the dock, and the denied visitors, we suggest thinking of hospitality as a form of mooring'. Hospitality is produced through the negotiation of movement and mooring. The maritime associations of the term mooring' call to mind an infrastructure of ropes, cables, docks, and anchors that secure ships in a safe harbour.
