Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: RENATA XABREGAS FERREIRA BRINGEL

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : RENATA XABREGAS FERREIRA BRINGEL
DATE: 18/08/2025
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: meet.google.com/kna-jkxc-ccc
TITLE:

The Construction of Meaningful Experiences in the Mobile Universe of Caravanism: Traveling, Dwelling, Becoming.

KEY WORDS:

Caravanning. Meaningful experiences. Mobilities paradigm. Caravanner typologies. Dwelling in motion.

PAGES: 60
BIG AREA: Ciências Sociais Aplicadas
AREA: Turismo
SUMMARY:

This research aims to analyze how Caravanning - understood as the practice of traveling in recreational vehicles - shapes the construction of meaningful experiences within the context of the mobilities paradigm. The study seeks to understand how the home-road duality, individual motivations, and social interactions contribute to experiences that transcend conventional tourism, re-signifying the journey as an integral part of the experience itself. Focusing on different types of caravan travelers, such as Camper Travel Lovers, Grey Nomads, and VanLifers, the research intends to map practices, motivations, and contradictions, articulating them with emotional, behavioral, social, and well-being dimensions. The conceptual framework will integrate the mobilities paradigm - which interprets movement as a socially meaningful practice - and theoretical approaches to meaningful experiences in tourism and positive psychology. The notion of “dwelling in motion” will be explored as a central axis that redefines ideas of home, freedom, and belonging, while caravanist typologies will be analyzed as dynamic categories whose spatial (routes, campgrounds) and subjective choices (search for self-knowledge, socialization, freedom, and connection with nature) shape diverse narratives. The adopted methodology will be qualitative, with a phenomenological and interpretative orientation, supported by data triangulation. The research will involve in-depht interviews with 30 caravan travelers, non-participant observation in campgrounds, and document analysis (blogs and social media). Data will be interpreted through Reflexive Thematic Analysis and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), identifying themes such as “hybrid mobility” (work-leisure integration) and “contextual freedom” (autonomy conditioned by resources), as well as contradictions between discourse and practice. Expected results include: (1) distinct motivational patterns among typologies; (2) the construction of meaningful experiences through negotiation between domestic comfort and the unpredictability of the road; and (3) a theoretical model linking mobilities to identity processes, highlighting the “itinerant home” as a space for reconfiguring the meanings attributed to travel, dwelling, and being on the move. The study contributes to tourism scholarship by expanding the understanding of contemporary mobile practices and by informing public policy (e.g., campground infrastructure) and segmented marketing strategies. It is considered that, in caravanism, meaningful experiences are primarily constructed in the in-between of the journey - in the mobile dwelling experienced along the route - rather than solely upon arrival at a destination. This process involves distinct forms of subjective, sensory, and relational engagement, which vary according to caravanist typologies. By valuing the route as a space of meaning, caravanism offers a singular way of experiencing contemporary mobility.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Externo à Instituição - JAKSON RENNER RODRIGUES SOARES
Externo à Instituição - LUIZ ERNESTO BREMBATI - UFPR
Presidente - 1149626 - MAURO LEMUEL DE OLIVEIRA ALEXANDRE
Interno - 1160199 - SERGIO MARQUES JUNIOR
Externo à Instituição - THIAGO ALLIS - USP