Trickster hospitality: A Moroccan escalation act

Bringing into conversation classic themes of scalar play, risk, and ambiguity in the anthropology of hospitality with the focus on scalar movement and growth at the heart of the concept of ‘escalation’, this paper explores the social mechanics of a sudden change of scale, where the terms of (welcome or unwelcome) exchange are abruptly escalated with expected and unexpected consequences for all involved. Tracing how expectations of hospitality are niftily escalated by an uninvited guest in a Moroccan household, I focus on the conditions and consequences of the ‘change of change’ of escalations, where an abrupt change of scale can radically transform situations and events. Attending to the complex scalar work of a specific escalation act, I trace the constitutive ambiguity of hospitality and the conceptual openness it requires.