Keep walking: walking as detour from ‘fitness’ and the building of self-in-isolation and identity in contemporary consumer society

Abstract

Walking, as the most universal form of movement, has been represented as a type of sport in the context of recent health and fitness initiatives. This paper will focus on such initiatives in Taiwan, considering first how ‘walking’ has become a ‘high-quality sport’ and entered the discourses on national health. Second, walking has become part of consumer culture, with the promotion of peripheral products and equipment such as pedometers, footwear and portable music players. The third section of the article discusses how ‘walking by oneself’ builds the ‘self-in-isolation’ with reference to the practice of walking theorized by Debord and de Certeu.