Apologies for cross postings. Offers of papers are welcomed for the
following session at the Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of
British Geographers) Annual Conference, 29-31 August 2007, London
Geographies of the Gap Year
Convenor: Tara Duncan
The Gap Year can often been seen as an opportunity for altruistic young
people to see and learn about different peoples and cultures through
volunteering or working abroad. It is now firmly entrenched within British
(and Western) society and through TV adverts, newspaper articles, numerous
websites and academic literature. Taking a period of time out from further
education or in the early stages of a career has become the ‘norm’.
This session seeks to critically examine what the Gap Year is and to
underscore the importance of long term budget travel within social science
debates of transnationalism and temporary mobility. The hope is to attract
papers that might begin to discuss issues that could include but are not
limited to:
1. whether this type of travel can perhaps be seen as the ‘middle’ of
transnationalism;
2. the ways in which this type of travel allows individuals to develop
identities that extend beyond the scope of their (traditionally nation-
state based) ‘citizenship’;
3. the changing nature of longer-term budget travel, spatially, temporally
and demographically
4. challenging existing typologies of backpacking and the Gap Year and;
5. the need to consider the impacts of the mobility of these travellers
over the course of their life span.
Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words to [log in to unmask] by
16 February, 2007
Please contact me at [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] if I can
provide any further information.
Thanks and kind regards
Tara
Managing Editor: Journals
Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)
1 Kensington Gore
London
SW7 2AR
E: [log in to unmask]
T: +44 (0)20 7591 3026
F: +44 (0)20 7591 3001
W: www.rgs.org
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