The second movement is to practice transdisciplinarity as transversal, as comprising equal parts hospitality, boundary crossing and adventure. Hospitality (I've discussed this before in earlier posts) requires the adaptation of our language and a lowering of our guard, accepting the possible transformation of our roles, rules and behaviors. Reciprocal boundary crossing, venturing on to each others’ terrains and undertaking participant-centered investigations must be done with a spirit of adventure and risk-taking by all.
In this movement, the shift in our notion of hospitality is the most challenging. The acceptance of the stranger into one’s home is much easier than becoming a stranger in another’s home. In either direction, and for all parties, hospitality requires the deferral of one’s own agenda, the potential conflict of values, the disruptions of everyday life, and the sacrifice of time and energy.
Then there are the intrusions on privacy, the negotiations of notions of rights and prerogatives, the tensions of obligations and refusals, and the forced intimacy. Finally, the need to provide and serve, the ethics of asking and of surrender, the relationship between guest and host and its implicit (if not explicit) power relationship, the images and prejudices surrounding the concepts of citizen, immigrant, and native, the complications of tourism, voyeurism, and superficiality, all are constantly raised, transposed and shifted in a transdisciplinary practice. Add to that the creation of a transdisciplinary space in which all are both host and guest and you get an idea of the complexities involved...
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