ABSTRACT
Globalisation is a key part of our modern world, and, as a result, we are both more mobile and more connected than ever before. Mobilities provides a framework for conceptualising complex relationships, in terms of what it means to be mobile and how this has an impact on society. As shared public spaces, festivals can be seen as providing a place for encounter and thus providing the opportunity for the development of social relations among a wide variety of people in any given community. The new mobilities paradigm, in particular, allows consideration of the various ways in which festivals give rise to feelings of connection or, alternatively, of alienation. This chapter explores the underpinning notions of mobilities and the new mobilities paradigm, and it considers how this may be a useful conceptual framework for the study of festivals.
