Somewhere between everywhere and nowhere: travelling in the age of digital Gestell or framing

Abstract

The following article describes tech-nomadic practices of moving and organizing of travelers situated and placed in global and networked contexts. Drawing upon an ethnographic case study in Nepal and India, we focus on travelers and their nomadic movements, experiences and practices, which included among other, those of work in relation to their ‘inter-placedness’. In particular, we explore digitally mediated forms of travelling and the role of “dwelling in de-distancing” in what we call, following Heidegger, ‘digital Gestell ’ (The word Gestell or Gestell was used by Heidegger to refer to what lies behind technology). Finally, the paper discusses some implications of the described tech-nomadic milieu and practices, as manifesting and reflecting broader social trends, including hyper and dis-connectivity, and non-linear narrative trajectories characterized as becoming increasing mobile, global and contingent. By concluding, we discuss some implications for a more place-responsive and responsible approach for sustainable traveling and living, as well as the significance of an ethos of what Heidegger called Gelassenheit (the attitude of releasment to accept and reject, at the same time, the technological world)