Alter-Nomad: 2. Nomads do not Travel

If travel is the physical movement of going from one place to another, animal migrations could be considered as travels too. The difference is that animal migrations are seasonal, whereas human travels aren’t. Travel is a man’s impulse. It’s in our nature to wonder and wander. However, traveling is a cultural thing as well, exclusive to sedentism. As the philosopher Gilles Deleuze shows, nomads do not travel: “nothing travels less than a nomad”. Nomads are anchored to a territory and circle around it in a seasonal fashion. Their life is linked to this territory.

It’s extremely important to note that nomadism is not just about travel. This statement goes for digital nomadism as well. Nomadism is polymorphic. It varies both in time and space. Inuits and Tuaregs are both famous nomadic populations, yet their cultures are vastly different. Similarly, nomadism in the early history of civilization is unlike modern nomadism. There is an historical nomadism and a modern one including sub-cultures such as digital nomadism.

We can observe three kinds of nomadism throughout history: physical (historical nomadism), intellectual/spiritual (globalism or mercantile nomadism), and digital (not only digital nomads but also digital transformation as a whole). This three-dimensional nomadism is modern nomadism, also known as neo-nomadism.

Neo-nomadism is omnipresent in our sedentary cultures. Political nomads such as migrants, refugees, homeless people… all cast aside from society, but also workers — expatriates, remote workers, modern hobbos — and tourists. Every globalized trade flow is part of neo-nomadism as well. Nomadism is plural, but each branch shares this concept of mobility. Nomadism is not just a lifestyle based on mobility, it includes all the economic and social phenomenon originating from globalization.