Soile Eeva Johanna Veijola

Towards a hostessing society?: mobile arrangements of gender and labour

This article theorizes the forms and interrelations of mobilized work and arrangements of gender in the context of “new work”: an ideology of the flexible labour market of the new economy from the perspective of the workers. The notion of new work is further complicated by the thesis of the feminization of work, whereby, on the one hand, temporary employment is increasingly common also among men and, on the other, attributes and conditions formerly connected to women and understood as feminine virtues or domestic skills are now required from both women and men. Meanwhile, women migrate and are trafficked from poor countries to wealthy ones to perform a range of “old work” for women. Here, the social transformation of work is addressed from the point of the contingent, contradictory, and complex interplay of work and gender, situated in concrete social worlds too often left out of serious discussions of work and mobilities, namely, the spheres of home and leisure. Domestic and tourism work, characterized by the requirements of new work, are unfolded through two constructed personal narratives based on empirical data collected by the authors. They illuminate the theoretical statement made in the article, of hostessing being the grounding principle in contemporary work. Hostessing is a skill and performance experienced and embodied by both women and men, individually and globally, but not necessarily in similar terms and consequences.

Gender as Work in the Tourism Industry

Recent theorizing on the changing patterns of gender and labour in contemporary capitalist production provides a fertile starting point for investigating tourism as work and labour — instead of the more common themes of leisure, management and social or environmental impact. Current working life in post-Fordist societies, for its part, is increasingly based on producing experiences, images and affects, all familiar aspects of tourist scenes. This article argues that when investigating tourism work as experienced and enunciated by workers themselves, we can not only gain a better grasp of the production process of the tourist experience but also of the constitution of contemporary subjectivity in late capitalist societies. Narrative analysis is performed on the autobiographical narratives of two tourism workers from Finnish Lapland to investigate and demonstrate the argument by focusing particularly on the interplay between skill and gender in the context of ‘new work’.

Towards Silent Communities

We wander around in a semi-urban neighbourhood as if we were a herd of reindeer. We have agreed to follow the set of instructions given to us: to keep silent, keep moving, turn off our mobile phones (and not peek at them even to check the time) and, most importantly, stay together. We are not supposed to choose a leader or a destination. In our backpacks we carry some ‘reindeer food’; we can stop to eat if we like. Our instructors accompany us at a short distance, playing the part of ‘reindeer dogs’, in neon-yellow vests, keeping track of the time and looking out for our safety should we happen to cross a road or encounter curious people who ask us what we are doing. The instructors would explain to them that we are, yes, pretending to be reindeer. One of them carries a reindeer bell, which tinkles as he walks, telling any of us at the head of the herd how far back the last reindeer is.

The death of the tourist Seven improvisations

The text examines narrative violence, by experimenting with ways of rewriting narratives, such as detective stories, travel stories and campus stories, those both ancient and contemporary forms of narration. Experimenting and improvisation displace and, eventually, unveil violence that is embedded in the (patriarchal) narratives. Different focalizations, enunciations and movements of desire are used for the purpose. The main modes of displacement are, on the one hand, embodying and sexing the figurations of subjectivity, the narrators included, and, on the other hand, feminist deconstruction, with the help of irony. Who killed the tourist? And, where is the body? Hiding, or finding, the body of the woman is, still, the main initiative of both academic and crime discourse.

Tourism at the crossroads of contesting paradigms of Arctic development

Tourism, like oil and gas development, has made the Arctic a hub of industrial activity. A lot of Arctic tourism is built around nostalgic ideas of frontier expeditions, creating curiosity for a sparsely or uninhabited and untamed environment, enriched by special treats such as Aurora Borealis, whale-watching, and other fruits of nature that professional tourism operators aspire to turn into safe and luxurious experiences. The perceived weakening of the presence of indigenous peoples and their cultures, as well as unspoiled nature has led to these becoming objects of tourist desire. Imaginaries, spread through media and social networks, create a rush due to a growing awareness of “last-chance-to-see” landscapes.

Introduction: Alternative Tourism Ontologies

We are expecting guests so we are cleaning our house — even though we very well know that after our guests leave, the house will likely be even messier than it was before. What is the point then? Is all the trouble for nothing? No. If the house was too dirty our guests would not be able to enjoy themselves, no matter how good the talk, the food, the coffee or the wine. Or, even worse, if they knew our house was always a mess, they would stay away. No one would come. Indeed, should we ever want to sell our home we would take the deep cleanse even further: we would hide photographs, piles of paper, pieces of clothing — all belongings that are too personal — in the cupboards, in the attic or in the cellar. In that case, we would make our home into a blank screen onto which potential buyers could project future scenarios of themselves hosting their own guests in this space. For now, however, we tidy up just enough to make our guests feel welcome, but not so much as to erase every trace of ourselves.

Conclusion: Prepositions and Other Stories

The camping experiment is soon coming to an end. We are packing our tents and kettles, and are ready to return home. One more time we sit down around the campfire and reflect on what has happened. Have we provided well-placed stepping stones through the theoretical and literary landscapes to support ontological reconsiderations in tourism and hospitality research, as we had aspired to do? Are there more spaces of being and spaces of being-with, perhaps? Have we left enough lines of flight for the tourists of the future?