Existential Homelessness – Placelessness and Nostalgia in the Age of Mobility

Abstract

Mobility is, of course, a huge subject matter, extending from the movement cycles and patterns of the primordial human settlements of the world, and the great expeditions and the European re-discovery of the world, to our characteristic bipedal motion and horizontal gaze, and the mobility implied by countless human modes of livelihood and production. The theme also contains matters such as our embodied mode of experiencing the world through constant motion, the fundamental human right of mobility as specified in the Declaration of Human Rights, and the significance of mobility for human interaction on a cross-cultural as well as on intimate and social levels. The significance of human mobility also evokes essential ecological and ethical questions; we may soon be reaching the very limits of unlimited and irresponsible mobility. We must also include the conditions that limit mobility which result from cultural conditions, gender, forced restrictions, economy, or physical disabilities.