Nomad Stories: Travelling in Times of Crisis

Abstract

Travel has been one of the sectors most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries have taken urgent and aggressive action to contain the spread of the virus by implementing measures such as travel bans, border closures, and lockdowns. This thesis theorizes the relationship between self-making, ethics, and travel at a time when movement has become restricted and morally questionable. It traces important ethical tensions generated by the pandemic and grounds them in different conceptualizations of uncertainty, risk, responsibility, and mobility. Through the examination of the historical and global forces that led to the globalization of movement, capital, bodies, and viruses, this work explores the new parameters of travel as produced by the pandemic and its ensuing restrictions. It argues that COVID-19 blurs the distinctions between local and global infrastructures, bodies, and forms of knowledge, rendering them increasingly difficult to maintain. By examining the unfolding of the global crisis and its effects on the practice of travel, this thesis unravels new and innovative patterns of consumption and envisions alternative futures for the tourism industry.