Resource Management and Geography - Theses
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ItemBackpacking in an unsustainable world: the places and practices of mobile people( 2015)This thesis integrates the geographical concerns of mobility, place and practices with the study of long-term, multi-destination tourists called backpackers. As backpackers are highly mobile but also reside in place for prolonged periods, they can help us to understand what happens to practices amongst people who have a fluctuating and dynamic relationship with place. Practice-based approaches applied in the study of sustainability have generally eschewed an engagement with mobile people, while scholars engaging with practice theory in sustainability-related research have often overlooked the actions of people on holiday. Recognising both the contribution that mobility studies makes to conceptualisations of place, and backpacking as a unique form of mobility, this thesis explores the differences that travel and mobility make to practices of sustainability. Using a pragmatist theoretical perspective and a mixed methods approach, this thesis integrates the research areas of sustainability, everyday practices, mobilities and place with the study of backpackers. The aim is to understand the differences place and mobility make to practices of sustainability. This thesis provides a broad account of the relationship between the everyday practices of mobile people and sustainability. To convey the dynamism of place and mobility and their influence on everyday backpacker practices related to sustainability, the thesis also develops the notions of destination and pace. Destination is a term that describes where mobile people are performing practices. It amplifies the interrelationships between practice, place and mobility. Three types of destination emerged in the backpacking context and each had a distinctive relationship with backpacker practices in the context of sustainability. The notion of pace combines speed and rhythm and it describes how mobility and backpacker practices are implicated in sustainability. Engaging with pace further explicated the interrelationships between practice, place and mobility. The relationship between sustainability, practices and place was shown to be tightly bound via a slow pace but loosened via a fast pace. Practices that I considered sustainable were then enabled or obstructed depending on the fluctuating pace of backpacker travel, with a slow pace associated with more sustainable practices than a fast pace. By attending to destination and to pace I demonstrate how place, mobility and practices are entwined with sustainability. As there is a lack of attention to place and mobility in the literature on social practices, this thesis contributes to this field of research by demonstrating the dynamic relations between practices, place and mobility. In so doing, it furthers debates in the social sciences regarding the use of practice-based approaches to issues of tourism and sustainability.