Alternative modes of family travel: middle-class parental ‘exit’ strategies as a different orientation towards global citizenship education

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this paper we focus on two types of middle-class families: those who avoid air travel for environmental reasons and those who choose to live nomadic lives, travelling with their children around the world and staying weeks or months in certain locations, mainly in Asia, South America, and Africa. We analyse data gathered from interviews with parents, blogs, fora and more traditional media, where families presented and explained their choice and offered some detailed accounts on how they perceive their travel practices and its effect on their children. The choice to combine the analysis of these seemly highly contradictory practices together is motivated by the significant similarities found in many of their narratives, both in their non-traditional travel choices that aim to challenge certain middle-class norms, and in their desire to use these unique family travel strategies for global citizenship education. We argue that such an unsettling of normative middle-class practices can be seen as the beginning of an ontological shift in the way GCE is understood and practiced.