Extreme mobilities: Challenging the concept of ‘travel’

Kannisto, P.
Extreme mobilities: Challenging the concept of ‘travel’
(2016) Annals of Tourism Research, 57, pp. 220-233.

DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2016.01.005

Abstract
This article explores extreme mobilities by analysing how ‘global nomads’ create their lifestyles. The focus is on power negotiations regarding freedom of movement and the limits of modern-day mobilities. The study is based on in-depth interviews, instant ethnography and virtual ethnography analysed with Foucauldian discourse analysis. Two discourses are examined-the discourse of home and hearth and the discourse of homelessness-that reveal contradictions in society and in global nomads’ lifestyles. While societies tend to be suspicious about sustained mobilities, mostly promoting homebound travel, global nomads are not able to detach themselves from home either. They are opportunists taking advantage of societies’ dominant discourses and practices. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd.

Author Keywords
Discourse analysis; Extreme mobilities; Foucault; Location-independence; Power