Ubuntu at Home and Abroad: A Pragmatic Analysis of Cross-Cultural Hospitality

CFLERPA 2020 Award Runner-Up. Abstract: While hospitality is generally understood to involve conscientious displays of welcome and acceptance by the host on behalf of a guest, differences in hospitality behavior between cultures have not been adequately studied. Furthermore, it is assumed that hospitality undergirds positive intercultural relationships, but no singular conceptualization or systematic method of praxis exists in the scholarly canon. Individuals' perceptions of hospitality, and the way hospitality as theory manifests in individuals' behavior, may vary based on the definition of hospitality imbued in them by their respective cultures. For example, ubuntu, often expressed through the phrase "a person is a person because of other persons," is a philosophical construct professed by natives of many sub-Saharan African nations and through which previous scholars have interpreted hospitality (Gathogo, 2008, p. 53). This study investigates the nature of intercultural welcoming by gathering subjective data on conceptualizations and expressions of hospitality in the United States' dominant culture and in sub-Saharan African cultures. Qualitative assessments are obtained through open-response surveys from 21 volunteers, synthesized by region, and contrasted with one another. The results indicate that the normative significance of hospitality is more embedded in African philosophy and behavior than in American, while both groups conveyed a desire to share the host culture, including native goods and services, with foreign guests. The discussion concludes with a revised definition of hospitality as conceptualized within the parameters of sub-Saharan African culture and philosophy.