Unveiling a Material Agent: An Anthropological study on how backpacks shape backpackers’ journeys and identities

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to wider discussions within the discipline of anthropology regarding the social and material significance of backpackers’ backpacks. Mainly, this paper examines how backpacks help construct backpacking identity and shape backpackers’ journeys and experiences. To gain insight into these inquiries this paper adopts a qualitative research approach, specifically eight semi-structured interviews with people that defined themselves as backpackers. The gathered empirical data is analysed by applying and building upon the theoretical frameworks of Latour’s Actor-network theory and Daniel Miller’s concept of how material objects help construct identity. The main findings demonstrate that backpackers’ performative practice of interacting with their backpacks helps produce and create a symbolic boundary for backpacking identity. Moreover, this paper’s findings also illustrate how the agentic properties of backpacks help shape backpackers’ travel experiences by determining how they can travel, initiate and influence social interactions and develop a sense of stability and comfort.