What is it about?
This article explores how social scientists and anthropologists have used recurring figures such as the nomad, exile, pilgrim, tourist, pedestrian and flâneur to think about human mobility. These figures are more than simply descriptions of particular people. They are powerful concepts that shape how researchers understand movement, travel, migration, belonging, identity and social change. Drawing on the idea of “keywords” developed by Raymond Williams, the article argues that these figures act as conceptual shortcuts that connect broad societal transformations to everyday human experiences. By tracing their historical development and examining how they are used in contemporary mobility studies, the article shows that the ways we think about movement are never neutral. The article also demonstrates how anthropological research can compare these theoretical figures with the lived realities of mobile people, revealing both the strengths and limitations of established ideas about mobility. Ultimately, it offers a critical reflection on the concepts that underpin the growing field of mobility studies and encourages scholars to rethink how movement is theorized and understood.
Featured Image
Photo by Spenser Sembrat on Unsplash
Why is it important?
As mobility has become one of the defining themes of contemporary social theory, concepts such as the nomad, tourist, migrant or pilgrim are often used without sufficient reflection on their origins, meanings and assumptions. This article is important because it shifts attention away from mobility itself and toward the conceptual tools used to study it. By examining mobility figures as historically produced and culturally situated ideas, it reveals how scholarly thinking is shaped by particular intellectual traditions, especially European ones. The article also highlights anthropology's unique contribution to mobility studies: its ability to compare abstract theories with ethnographic realities. At a time when movement, migration, borders and global interconnectedness continue to dominate public and academic debates, understanding the concepts through which mobility is imagined and analyzed is more important than ever. The article therefore offers a critical framework for evaluating how knowledge about mobility is produced and circulated.
Perspectives
From my perspective, this article represents a step in a broader effort to critically examine the conceptual foundations of mobility studies. Much scholarly attention has focused on documenting and measuring different forms of movement, yet less attention has been given to the figures and metaphors through which mobility is understood. I was interested in exploring why certain figures, such as the nomad, tourist or pilgrim, have become so influential and what happens when these concepts travel across disciplines and contexts. As an anthropologist, I am particularly concerned with the tension between theoretical abstractions and ethnographic realities. The article reflects my conviction that concepts should never be taken for granted. By tracing their genealogies and comparing them with lived experiences, we can better understand both the possibilities and limitations of the analytical frameworks that shape contemporary knowledge about mobility.
Professor Noel B. Salazar
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Key figures of mobility: an introduction, Social Anthropology, February 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/1469-8676.12393.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
