A Cosmopolitan Journey?: Difference, Distinction and Identity Work in Gap Year Travel by Helene Snee

Author:Helene Snee [Snee, Helene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Human Geography, Political Science, Globalization
ISBN: 9781317188612
Google: VfO_CwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 29642281
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

Reflecting on Difference: Interviewing Gap Year Bloggers

Narratives of difference are also apparent in the interviews with the gappers. They talk about taking a gap year to gain an understanding of local contexts. However, this desire is held in tension with the tendency to stress they travelled to somewhere away from home. For example, Francesca [6i] thinks her experiences in Russia help her to understand that ‘culturally it is pretty different’. Francesca is interested in Russian history, and feels that she experienced a place ‘you don’t get anywhere else’. This is clearly a cosmopolitan framing: of encountering difference and appreciating it. Christina [10i] talks about how this is complicated, and gives rise to mixed feelings. She feels she has learned about the history and economics of Uganda during her gap year, but stresses that the ‘cultural stuff’ is very different. Christina felt alienated from the female teachers at her placement in a school, because she thinks ‘it’s hard to find things in common with people, women in Uganda have a very different role and different expectations’ (Christina [10i]). These feelings of not fitting in can be unpleasant, but such encounters are also seen as developing understanding. Christina is able to talk authoritatively about gender roles, for example.

Encountering people and places that are different is not just limited to the gappers who visited the global South. Lisa [3i] suggests one of the best things about her gap year in the USA was coming into contact with people from different ethnic backgrounds. This diversity is not something she is used to in her home town: ‘I go to America and I’m surrounded by Black people and Asians, I’m sharing a house, a bathroom, with people who don’t look like me’ (Lisa [3i]). Encounters with difference are a key part of the gap year experience, and something that Libby [8i] deliberately set out to achieve. When asked about her motivations for taking a gap year in New Zealand, she says ‘If I’m leaving home, I might as well do it well and good, and go to the other side of the world!’ (Libby [8i]). Similarly, Peter [16i] gives his rationale for his gap year in Australia and New Zealand as:

I was out there for a year out of my choice to see something different. Australia and New Zealand are both different enough to be foreign yet have very British qualities which ease any homesickness. (Peter [16i])

Owen [37i] gives comparable reasons for spending his gap year backpacking in Thailand. He thinks it has enough of a travel infrastructure so that it is ‘easy to get around’ but not so much ‘to be in your face’. Owen suggests Thailand can provide an authentic experience of difference while remaining convenient. However, he suggests he would like to move beyond such relatively ‘safe’ places in the future. Gap year spaces, therefore, provide a place to experiment with difference (Simpson 2005a).

The gappers talk about their genuine cosmopolitan aims, and that they took gap years because they wanted to engage with their host communities and learn something about countries they visited.

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