Criminalized hospitality: The case of Velika Kladusa

The article examines how discourses of hospitality towards migrants/refugees are changing in Velika Kladusa, a town in Bosnia and Herzegovina close to the Croatian border. Since 2018, this city has been confronted with the presence of a large number of people on the move, and has seen the development of a multi-layered tension between the spontaneous hospitality of the local population and the increasingly repressive policies of the European Union and restrictive local measures that criminalize not only migrants/refugees but also all forms of solidarity with them. In the introductory part of the article, the concept of hospitality is briefly analysed on the basis of concepts presented in various anthropological sources as well as in contemporary research on migration and hospitality. In the succeeding chapters we explore the dynamics that arise where hospitality intersects with the public and the private spheres. Our fieldwork material from Velika Kladusa have shown that the attitude of the local population towards migrants/refugees is influenced by the interference of authorities (police, inspectors, etc.) in the area of hospitality, and indicates a transformation of local hospitality practices towards migrants/refugees, which we have defined as a shift from open to criminalized hospitality. Under these changed circumstances, some residents of Velika Kladusa react to the criminalization of hospitality with acceptance, some by negotiating with it and others by openly opposing it.