Key figure of mobility: the nomad

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between nomadic people and the figure of the nomad in a European context. Based on a discussion of the presence of the figure of the nomad in European folk imaginary and in the social sciences, from Pierre Clastres's (. Society against the state. New York: Urizen) work on stateless societies, to Deleuze and Guattari's philosophy of Nomadology (1986. Nomadology. New York: Semiotex(e)) and Braidotti's (. Nomadic subjects. Embodiment and sexual difference in contemporary feminist theory. New York: Columbia University Press) nomadic feminism, the article employs a ‘nomadic’ perspective on ethnographic work of mobile people. It argues that ideas contrasting the nomadic and the state can be put to use for epistemological purposes.