The raptures and ruptures of mobility

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which the trope of rupture has progressively figured in my studies of diverse forms of mobility. Ironically, this has occurred at the same time as an increasing orientation within migration studies towards transnational links has given a strong emphasis on continuity. I argue that this kind of methodological transnationalism does not give enough attention either to the disjunctures that are routinely involved in mobility or to the possibility that rupture might be an actively desired goal for moving either temporarily or for the longer term.

Keywords:

• rupture
• methodological transnationalism
• consultants
• expatriates
• youth travellers

Acknowledgements

My studies of expatriates in the Cayman Islands entitled ‘Status, Immigration and Globalization: Rights of Residence in the Cayman Islands’, of mobile international consultants entitled ‘Itinerant Consultancy: An Anthropological Study of Transnational Travel, Work and Social Location among Mobile Professionals’ and of student and youth mobility entitled ‘Coming of Age in an Era of Globalization: Achieving Cultural Distinction through Student Travel Abroad’ (in collaboration with Noel Dyck) were all supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.