Autonomy, Territory, Mobility: Everyday (Geo)Politics in Voluntary Exchange Networks
In this paper, I examine mobile territorial practices among participants in two global voluntary exchange networks. CouchSurfing (a hospitality network) and WWOOF (an organic farming network) are part of a broad spectrum of alternative travel economies rooted in global networks of mutual aid between...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Université de Reims Champagne-Ardennes
2016-04-01
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| Series: | L'Espace Politique |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/3779 |
| _version_ | 1811278045562011648 |
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| author | Anthony Ince |
| author_facet | Anthony Ince |
| author_sort | Anthony Ince |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this paper, I examine mobile territorial practices among participants in two global voluntary exchange networks. CouchSurfing (a hospitality network) and WWOOF (an organic farming network) are part of a broad spectrum of alternative travel economies rooted in global networks of mutual aid between and among hosts and guests. Using ethnography and interviews, I examine the extent to which the everyday practices and imaginaries of participants offer new configurations of, and relations to, mobility and territoriality. Mobility and territory have been conventionally positioned as opposed to one another, but recent work in geography has emphasised the contested co-constitution of movement/borderlessness and fixity/enclosure. The counter-territorial practices of Couchsurfing and WWOOF participants may, therefore, indicate ways of imagining and creating global collectivities and solidarities that counteract prevailing statist-capitalist territorial logics and relations. Deploying a critical framework drawn from the anarchist tradition, I interrogate the extent to which the autonomous “infrapolitics” of WWOOF and CouchSurfing participants offer alternative modes of living and relating globally. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T00:28:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-48de993bad2147c399e789e90c177dfb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1958-5500 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T00:28:43Z |
| publishDate | 2016-04-01 |
| publisher | Université de Reims Champagne-Ardennes |
| record_format | Article |
| series | L'Espace Politique |
| spelling | doaj.art-48de993bad2147c399e789e90c177dfb2022-12-22T03:10:32ZengUniversité de Reims Champagne-ArdennesL'Espace Politique1958-55002016-04-012810.4000/espacepolitique.3779Autonomy, Territory, Mobility: Everyday (Geo)Politics in Voluntary Exchange NetworksAnthony InceIn this paper, I examine mobile territorial practices among participants in two global voluntary exchange networks. CouchSurfing (a hospitality network) and WWOOF (an organic farming network) are part of a broad spectrum of alternative travel economies rooted in global networks of mutual aid between and among hosts and guests. Using ethnography and interviews, I examine the extent to which the everyday practices and imaginaries of participants offer new configurations of, and relations to, mobility and territoriality. Mobility and territory have been conventionally positioned as opposed to one another, but recent work in geography has emphasised the contested co-constitution of movement/borderlessness and fixity/enclosure. The counter-territorial practices of Couchsurfing and WWOOF participants may, therefore, indicate ways of imagining and creating global collectivities and solidarities that counteract prevailing statist-capitalist territorial logics and relations. Deploying a critical framework drawn from the anarchist tradition, I interrogate the extent to which the autonomous “infrapolitics” of WWOOF and CouchSurfing participants offer alternative modes of living and relating globally.http://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/3779territorymobilityautonomytourismanarchism |
| spellingShingle | Anthony Ince Autonomy, Territory, Mobility: Everyday (Geo)Politics in Voluntary Exchange Networks L'Espace Politique territory mobility autonomy tourism anarchism |
| title | Autonomy, Territory, Mobility: Everyday (Geo)Politics in Voluntary Exchange Networks |
| title_full | Autonomy, Territory, Mobility: Everyday (Geo)Politics in Voluntary Exchange Networks |
| title_fullStr | Autonomy, Territory, Mobility: Everyday (Geo)Politics in Voluntary Exchange Networks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Autonomy, Territory, Mobility: Everyday (Geo)Politics in Voluntary Exchange Networks |
| title_short | Autonomy, Territory, Mobility: Everyday (Geo)Politics in Voluntary Exchange Networks |
| title_sort | autonomy territory mobility everyday geo politics in voluntary exchange networks |
| topic | territory mobility autonomy tourism anarchism |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/espacepolitique/3779 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT anthonyince autonomyterritorymobilityeverydaygeopoliticsinvoluntaryexchangenetworks |