This article investigates the making of personhood through conspicuous hospitality practices in the Republic of Georgia, focusing on how this process has underpinned moral boundary drawing in Georgia’s recent history – from the late Soviet era, through the 1990s, to the years following the Rose Revolution in 2003. Largely perceived and defined as tradition by local people and external observers, hospitality is a powerful device to organise social relationships and exchanges in the community. Excess is a fundamental feature of hospitality practices: people spend many hours around the table displaying, offering and consuming plenty of food and alcoholic drinks and engaging in conspicuous bodily gestures and speech. Analysing literary and media sources and data collected through participant observation and follow-up interviews, the article explores the way in which shifting moral boundaries drawn upon hospitality practices have transformed domination and counter-domination patterns in Georgian society. From a unifying marker of Georgians’ positive distinctiveness vis-à-vis other people, hospitality’s excesses became a token of increasing socio-economic inequality. The analysis contributes to the understanding of consumption, especially in its excessive aspects, as a fundamental element in the making of individual and collective personhood, which, in turn, shapes boundaries of exclusion and inclusion within and across smaller and larger communities.

中文翻译：

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过度款待：格鲁吉亚餐桌周围的人格、道德界限和统治

本文调查了格鲁吉亚共和国通过显眼的好客行为塑造人格的过程，重点关注这一过程如何支撑格鲁吉亚近代历史中的道德边界划定——从苏联时代晚期到 1990 年代，再到玫瑰革命之后的几年。 2003. 在很大程度上被当地人和外部观察者视为传统，热情好客是组织社会关系和社区交流的有力手段。过度是款待实践的一个基本特征：人们花很多时间围着桌子展示、提供和消费大量的食物和酒精饮料，并进行显眼的身体姿势和言语。分析文学和媒体来源以及通过参与观察和后续采访收集的数据，这篇文章探讨了基于酒店实践的道德界限的转变如何改变了格鲁吉亚社会的统治和反统治模式。从格鲁吉亚人相对于其他人的积极独特性的统一标志来看，热情好客成为社会经济不平等加剧的标志。该分析有助于理解消费，特别是在其过度方面，作为塑造个人和集体人格的基本要素，而这反过来又塑造了越来越小的社区内部和之间的排斥和包容的界限。从格鲁吉亚人相对于其他人的积极独特性的统一标志来看，热情好客成为社会经济不平等加剧的标志。该分析有助于理解消费，特别是在其过度方面，作为塑造个人和集体人格的基本要素，而这反过来又塑造了越来越小的社区内部和之间的排斥和包容的界限。从格鲁吉亚人相对于其他人的积极独特性的统一标志来看，热情好客成为社会经济不平等加剧的标志。该分析有助于理解消费，特别是在其过度方面，作为塑造个人和集体人格的基本要素，而这反过来又塑造了越来越小的社区内部和之间的排斥和包容的界限。