FIXED IDENTITIES IN A MOBILE WORLD? THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOBILITY, PLACE, AND IDENTITY

Abstract

Starting from the premise that mobility is a fundamental social issue, this article addresses the impact of mobility and place on identity. Three major schools of thought addressing this issue are examined: the socio-historical approach of Giddens (1991) and Bauman (1997, 2001) that describes a shift over the last century from place-based (prescribed) identities to mobile (achieved) identities; recent theories in sociology that see identity as mobile, dynamic, hybrid, and relational; and recent theories in geography that consider the relationship between place and identity. With reference to my own research into the migration experiences of a group of young adults in Australia, I argue that both mobility and place are essential components of identity construction and discuss the complex inter-relationships between mobility, place, and identity.

Key Words:

• Mobility
• place
• identity
• migration
• post-modern society

I thank those young Tasmanians who shared their experiences of mobility for this research. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS) Winter Workshop on Citizenship, Mobility, and Identity in the Asia Pacific at the University of Wollongong, Australia, in June 2005. Funding support for the workshop was provided by CAPSTRANS and the Asia Pacific Futures Research Network. I thank all participants, mentors, and editors for their insightful comments and suggestions. I also thank Dana Quintal and Andrew Tice for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

1. These are by no means the only approaches in contemporary academia, but they do enable a fuller examination of the relationship between mobility and identity in contemporary life.

2. For both interstate and international locations.

3. All names are pseudonyms.

4. While Giddens and Bauman seem to imply that their theories of the development of identity apply to the whole world, a closer reading of their work indicates that their arguments are directed mainly at developments in “advanced societies.”

5. Derided.

6. The geographer Yi-Fu Tuan coined the term topophilia to describe “the affective bond between people and place” (Duncan and Duncan, 2001: 41). He said that this bond may be stronger for some individuals than for others and can be expressed differently by people from different cultures (Duncan and Duncan, 2001: 41). Topophilia is an affective response to place, but it is also “a practice that can actively produce places for people” (Duncan and Duncan, 2001: 41). That is, the bond people have to a place can help to change the nature of that place (Easthope 2004: 130).

7. “Place-world,” a term coined by Edward Soja, is “a world that is not only perceived or conceived but actively lived” (Casey 2001: 413). The place-world is simultaneously social, spatial, and historical (Casey 2001: 413).