Abstract

People travel as never before. However, anthropological research has tended to focus primarily on either labor migration or on tourism. In contrast, this collection of essays explores a diversity of circumstances and impetuses towards contemporary mobility. It ranges from expatriates to peripatetic professionals to middle class migrants in search of extended educational and career opportunities to people seeking self development through travel, either by moving after retirement or visiting educational retreats. These situations, however, converge in the significant resources, variously of finances, time, credentials or skills, which these voyagers are able to call on in embarking on their respective journeys. Accordingly, this volume seeks to tease out the scope and implications of the relatively privileged circumstances under which these voyages are being undertaken.

Vered Amit is Professor of Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.  She received her Ph.D. from the University of Manchester and is the author or editor of 11 books including Young Men in Uncertain Times (co-ed with Noel Dyck, Berghahn, 2011), The Biographical Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology (Routledge, 2004), and The Trouble with Community (co-ed with Nigel Rapport).

“Drawing on a diverse set of ethnographic case studies, Going First Classteases out the scope and implications of the relatively privileged circumstances under which middle-class transnational mobilities are being undertaken..As such, the volume provides an in-depth anthropological answer to the proponents of the ‘mobility turn’ in the social sciences.” • Journal of Anthropological Research

“The publication of this book… is timely… Interesting and accessibly written, Going First Class? offers not only ethnographically rich reflections on the subject of privileged travel, but… it provides valuable critical insights on the nature of places and the methodological issues surrounding their study.” • JRAI

“…this collection of chapters deserves to be widely read and discussed – together, they demonstrate the imperative for ethnographic research in conversation, but not necessarily in cahoots, with reigning critical theories of modernity and the contemporary world.” • Social Anthropology