'Les Soixante-Routards: travel, generation, and 1968'. (2nd January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jobs, Richard Ivan
• Is Part Of: Modern & contemporary France. Volume 26:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 14
• Publication Date: 2018-01-02
• Subjects: France -- History -- 18th century -- Periodicals; France -- History -- 1789- -- Periodicals; France -- History -- 20th century -- Periodicals; 944
• DOI: 10.1080/09639489.2017.1345879
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-9489

Abstract

Abstract: Philippe Gloaguen and the 'Routard Generation' reveal a variety of themes in the cultural history of 1968 and its legacy in France regarding the intersection of travel mobility and generational identification. Mobility was and remains a central motif in the mythology of 1968. The way the cultural phenomenon of French backpacker travel has come to be understood there is bound up with ideas about 1968 and generation. The cultural association of 1968 with French travel and mobility helped create a broad generational cohort able to incorporate those who were not politically involved, or at best, were on the margins of protest activity. The self-proclaimed soixante-routards conflate travel mobility with a generational construct centred on 1968 as a means to render their personal travel with political meaning.