Illusion of inclusion: #BlackVanlife as counter-storytelling

Abstract

Vanlife as a hypermobile travel practice relies heavily on online storytelling to connect its members and promote its values. Setting itself apart from sedentary and materialistic forms of living and mainstream tourism, it celebrates freedom, adventure, and togetherness with a touch of urban chic and through the lens of Instagram filters. It portrays itself as an extremely inclusive, caring, open-minded, and welcoming community united around a spirit of exploration. Challenging this notion of inclusivity, the hashtag #blackvanlife draws attention to the under-representation of vanlifers of color in vanlife-related social media posts. Using a netnographic approach, we explore #blackvanlife as a form of counter-storytelling and social media activism that seeks to reveal and eradicate this illusion of inclusion. We find that the individual counter-stories of Black vanlifers reproduce the central tenets of the general vanlife narrative while also drawing attention to the unique lived experiences of Black vanlifers. Racist encounters and restricted mobility characterize their movements, while limited access to the glamorous vanlife lifestyle and lack of inclusion in the community lead to marginalization. At the counter-narrative level, #blackvanlife opposes #vanlife by challenging its notion of inclusivity, but also empowers Black vanlifers through inspiration and support. It creates an online movement that spreads to offline practices by connecting Black vanlifers, creating counterspaces, and recruiting allies. We highlight how this discourse forms an integral part of Black placemaking within vanlife, enables Black mobility, and complements other Black travel-related movements.

Keywords:

• Vanlife
• Black vanlife
• counter-storytelling
• counter-narrative
• netnography
• social media activism
• Black mobilities
• Black placemaking

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tatjana Walpersberger

Tatjana Walpersberger is a recent graduate of the Marketing Master Program at the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems. Her research explores neo-tribal theory applied to vanlife and issues of representation and diversity in the vanlife community.

Ulrike Gretzel

Ulrike Gretzel is a senior fellow in the Center of Public Relations at the University of Southern California. Her research explores technology and social media-related phenomena in the context of tourism.