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Book Cover
E-book
Author Ferrell, Jeff, author

Title Drift : illicit mobility and uncertain knowledge / Jeff Ferrell
Published Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018]

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Description 1 online resource (x, 267 pages)
Contents Drift dialectics -- Drift contexts -- Drift politics -- Hobo history -- Catching out -- Freedom in the form of a boxcar -- Beneath the slab -- Drift method -- Ghost images and gorgeous mistakes
Summary This book shows how dislocation and disorientation can become phenomena in their own right. Examining the history of drifting, the author situates the global phenomenon of drift within early 21st century economic, social, and cultural dynamics. He then highlights a distinctly North American form of drift--that of the train-hopping hobo--by tracing the hobo's political history and by sharing his own immersion in the world of contemporary train-hoppers. Along the way, the author sheds light on the ephemeral intensity of drifting communities and explores the contested politics of drift--the legal and political strategies designed to control drifters in the interest of economic development, the irony by which these strategies spawn further social and spatial exclusion, and the ways in which drifters and those who embrace drift create their own slippery strategies of resistance. With an eye toward the truth, the author argues that the lessons of drift can provide us with new models for knowing and engaging with the world around us.--Adapted from information provided by publisher
Analysis contemporary drift
contemporary train hoppers
cultural dynamics
drifting communities
drifting
economic development
gutter punks
history of drifting
hobo
homeless
immersion
legal history
migrant workers
north america
political history
rail yards
riding trains
social inquiry
stowaways
train hopping
trains
traveling
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on November 16, 2018)
Subject Tramps -- United States -- History
Homelessness -- United States -- History
Tramps -- United States -- Social conditions
Tramps -- Political aspects -- United States
Railroads -- United States -- History
Social values -- United States -- History
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Discrimination & Race Relations.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Minority Studies.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Criminology.
Homelessness
Railroads
Social values
Tramps
United States
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2017051505
ISBN 9780520968271
0520968271