Paper short abstract:

This paper explores key findings from a two-year mobile ethnographic study on vanlife culture in the United States. It raises particular attention to the reason as to why individuals in the United States have sought solace in the solitude of vanlife since its inception in 2011: Alienation.

Paper long abstract:

Vanlife is a lifestyle mobility that has been seemingly overlooked amongst anthropologists on the move or otherwise. This paper explores key findings from a two-year mobile ethnographic study, with particular attention to the reason as to why individuals in the United States have sought solace in the solitude of vanlife since its inception in 2011: Alienation. The narratives that emerge from this ethnographic study show a correlation between generational categories of vanlife nomads and predominant types of Karl Marx’s description of alienation. Yet as these alienated nomads embark into such a mobile lifestyle the experience itself can also amplify the feelings of alienation that manifest in the form of burnout from the precariousness of being on the road in the pursuit of what is perceived to be freedom in “living the dream.” This then raises the question if vanlife nomads in the US are actually living a new American dream, or instead trying to survive a nightmare alienation?