Other, Hospitality, Researching, and Writing

Abstract

In this essay on research and writing, the non-intentionality of “hospitality” is highlighted. Grounded in Emmanuel Levinas’ ethics and Jacques Derrida’s response to that ethics, “Other” as the first philosophy is explored as the ground for doing research. Research is explored here as the “I” gazed upon by the “Other” rather than as an action implemented by the researcher’s will. The author describes how Bob Cooper inspired him to question the organization/disorganization relationship. However, the encounter with Levinas’ ethics caused me to subsume critique of Organization Studies to an even more radical research ethics, wherein investigation is not based on authorial intentionality but on a hospitality-based perspective. The ethics of writing-Other, wherein Other gazes upon one’s efforts, is juxtaposed with the contemporary norms of university research. Tamara is embraced as a source of hospitality.