(Not) costing the earth? Theorizing flight shame, train bragging, and campervan travel

Stanley, Phiona

Abstract

Flygskam (flight-shame), a Swedish neologism, hints at an emerging climate-smart tourist movement: closer-to-home, flight-free travel1. But going overland is more expensive and time consuming than flying, as capitalism does not price in environmental impact. To travel from Edinburgh to Malta for this sustainability-themed conference, for instance, is sixty-five hours and six-hundred pounds cheaper by air than by train, although flying emits four times as much carbon. These facts offer two important avenues for qualitative research and inductive theorizing, each presented in this paper.

First, beyond flygskam, might we conceptualise tagskryt (train-bragging) as climate consciousness replaces longhaul travel as a marker of taste, status, and distinction (per Bourdieu)? Qualitative netnographic2 research is presented that suggests tagskryt may be emerging as a novel form of (inter-class?) sneering. Second, as a meditation on posthumanism, what are the effects of NOT flying on local human and non-human assemblages3? While flygskam reduces large-scale environmental damage, how does rural driving, camping, and hiking affect local spaces? To examine this, I present and analyse critical autoethnographic data4 from campervan travel on the NC500, a 516-mile scenic driving route in the far north of Scotland5. This contribution is thus a dual qualitative inquiry theorized around a common theme.

Citation

Stanley, P. (2020, February). (Not) costing the earth? Theorizing flight shame, train bragging, and campervan travel. Paper presented at European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Malta

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry
• Start Date: Feb 4, 2020
• End Date: Feb 7, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 7, 2024
• Keywords: climate change, slow tourism, netnography, critical autoethnography, distinction (Bourdieu), campervan travel
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3534696
• Related Public URLs: https://storage.googleapis.com/smooty-1220.appspot.com/uploads/4112/1601647944_ECQI2020abstractbookeditionMalta.pdf