Introduction

Abstract

Back in 1971, The Who's main songwriter, Pete Townsend, perfectly captured globalization's restless, placeless, nomadic spirit in `Going Mobile', a song that appeared on the Who's Next album: When I'm driving free, the world's my home when I'm mobile. (Songmeanings, 2013; lyrics {©} SPIRIT ONE MUSIC OBO TOWSER TUNES) `Going Mobile' celebrates the joys of the open road, one that stretches way beyond the confines of Highway 51 or Route 66 to embrace a borderless world in which the late-twentieth century, jet-setting rock star can be an `air conditioned gypsy' (Songmeanings, 2013) living in his (nearly always `his') mobile bubble which keeps him out of reach of the police and the taxman. As with many other socio-cultural practices pioneered by 1960s/1970s, rock stars --- recreational drug use, casual sex and finding God (Buddha, Allah, etc.) --- `going mobile' has become a routine part of life for millions of people across the Global North as they criss-cross the globe for business or tourism.