Abstract
Gap years are often put forward as an opportunity to engage in individualized, reflexive, identity work. In contrast to this position, I draw upon a qualitative analysis of young people's travel blogs to highlight the tendency for gap year narratives to stick to standard scripts. Four key narratives frame gap years, which centre on making the most of time to do something worthwhile. I explore issues of intersubjectivity in the representation of gap year experiences, in terms of tacit consensus, moral boundary-drawing and reflexivity prompted by dialogue. Considering intersubjectivity in such accounts can add to our understanding of critical reflection in self-development strategies without resorting to the voluntarism of a reflexive model of identity. It also provides a critique of the individualized responsibility placed on young people to make the right choices.
Highlights
Overseas gap years1 between school and university are framed as worthwhile experiences
This paper offers a critique of understandings of the gap year as an individualized project of self-development, a position that can be aligned with the body of work termed the ‘reflexive modernisation thesis’
I draw upon Bourdieu (1990) to suggest gap year identity work is the outcome of embodied dispositions shaped by social circumstances
Summary
Overseas gap years1 between school and university are framed as worthwhile experiences. The potential offered by the gap year to engage in identity work is considered by Bagnoli (2009), who argues that travel enables young people to reflexively narrate their identity
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