Shared privacy: paradoxes and tensions in the daily life of hostels

Abstract

This article aims to understand how privacy can be seen in hostels, verifying the paradoxes and tensions that emerge in the daily life of these shared accommodations. The methodology is qualitative and involved field research in three hostels, selected by previously stipulated criteria, located in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. In addition to observation, interviews were carried out with 18 guests and 6 hosts. The collected data were systematized and analyzed using the content analysis proposed by Bardin (2011), this technique being complemented with the NVivo software. The research results showed that the bedroom, even if shared, represents the first step in the journey towards the subjects' privacy and the bed is the main place for its realization. As for the paradoxes and tensions that challenge privacy, the results of the field research indicate that the main ones are the noise, the disorder in rooms and in the kitchen, difficulties related to the collective use of the bathroom, nudity and sexual intimacy in shared rooms and living with people with different habits and origins. However, in this complex and ambiguous means of accommodation, it was found that the room can also be a space that allows a process of shared moments valued by the guests. This occurs, especially, due to the leisure and commensality practices experienced by the subjects who temporarily occupy that territory, and due to the exchange of experiences about the tourist attractions of the capital of Minas Gerais.

Keywords
Hostel; Shared spaces; Privacy; Guests; Hosts