Mobile Passages: Unpacking the Seasonal Lifestyle from Quebec to Topeekeegee Yugnee (TY) RV Park, Broward County, Southeast Florida

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate the lived experiences of multi-locational actors and the production of unique forms of socialization and community using the seasonal movements and settlements of the Québécois population (also referred to as “Floribécois”) in Broward County, Florida during the winter months. This study employs interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) which is theoretically rooted in hermeneutic phenomenology. IPA recognizes that there are shared perspectives and lived experiences of a group of people about a concept or a phenomenon. This analysis comprises of collectively shared meanings, while being mindful of the unique experience of a single individual and/or subgroup. The IPA methodology is especially applicable in this study because its emphasis is on the construction of meaning, context, and various aspects of everyday life practices within social phenomena. The findings of this thesis tie together meanings from the narratives. What emerged were themes of familiarity, consistency and reliability vis-a-vis space, a relationship between spontaneity/adventure and limitations of sameness, repetition, and routine in relation to the concept of “freedom”. The narrative of mobility as freedom in these cases converged to stories about having a place where individuals carve out private spaces and have “freedom” of choice about everyday routines. Such different practices and subjectivities display another way of interacting with existing forms of space and mobility, unlocking lifestyles untethered from the restraint of existing theories. In sum, this study reveals how a new sense of self is formed and redefined, and how mobility and space configurations are constantly shifting within existing structures.