Ethnography of the Backpacking Culture - Life on the Road

This volume provides a comprehensive, insider account of the global backpacking scene. It examines how backpacking has been constructed as a contemporary rite of passage, the influence that it has on young peoples' identities and life trajectories, and explores the ethical implications and ongoing effects of their travel practices.

List of contents

Part 1: Pre-Departure
1. Introduction: Why Travel?
2. Travel and Transformation: Tourism in the Cultural-Consciousness
3. The Backpacker Imaginary
Part 2: Departure
4. Destination Anywhere: Travel, Freedom and the Search for an Authentic Self
5. Getting Experienced: Backpacker Tourism and the Hedonistic Impulse
6. Love from Afar: Interpersonal Relationships, Transience and Connection in the Travel Space
7. When Self and Other Collide: Constructing Cosmopolitan Identities
Part 3: Coming Home
8. Journey's End or Journey's Beginning?
9. Conclusion: Backpackers, At Home in the World?

About the author

Amie Matthews is a Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at the University of Western Sydney.

Summary

This volume provides a comprehensive, insider account of the global backpacking scene. It examines how backpacking has been constructed as a contemporary rite of passage, the influence that it has on young peoples’ identities and life trajectories, and explores the ethical implications and ongoing effects of their travel practices.

Product details

• Authors: Amie Matthews, Amie (University of Western Sydney Matthews, Amie (Western Sydney University) Matthews
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 30.08.2025
• EAN: 9781138674653
• ISBN: 978-1-138-67465-3
• No. of pages: 160
• Series: Routledge Advances in Ethnography; Routledge Advances in Ethnography
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories