Egos on the move : an expropriative analysis of modern nomads’ needs and places

Abstract

Nomads, the most primitive and youngest form of existence, represent high spatial mobility. Traditional nomads take mobility as an efficient strategy to exploit scarce resources in order to find forage crops for their animals and survive. Modern nomads in the contemporary society, still carrying certain important spirits of nomads in the past, move for more complicated reasons. People tend to romanticise neo-nomadism as the dream lifestyle and yearn for it. But is this lifestyle as glamorous as it seems? This study thus aims to explore the true essence behind modern nomads’ movement. Building on existing work, it asks: What are the needs and places in modern nomads’ mind motivate them to purse a unconventional life? Based on a literature review of the extreme mobility phenomena of global nomads, the research decided to centre on modern nomads’ perspectives to review the concept of home first and subsequently to discover the underlying motivations behind the hypermobility by discussing the needs and places. An ethnographic interview was conducted to enquire about the participants three main sets of questions. Analysis of the responses demonstrates that modern nomads move for ‘the self’. The results indicate that they have stronger desires for cognitive needs and self-actualisation, and the nomadic environment helps them build the sense of belonging insofar as gratify the needs for the belongingness and love. In addition, returning home is not the destination for them, whereas home in their mind is something that they are still searching for. Further research is recommended to analyse modern nomads’ behaviour under constraint mobility with an adoption of quantitative research method as a support. On this basis, this study wishes to build a fundamental theory for and evoke empirical interests in examining modern nomads from multiple aspects.