ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a little-studied area of mobile lives: the Walz, or “wandering years,” a 700-year-old tradition. Originally practiced all over Europe, it is now mostly upheld in the German-speaking countries. The basic idea is that craftsmen and -women leave their hometowns after finishing their apprenticeship to begin travels that last for three years. During this journey, they are expected to work and thereby learn new aspects of their craft and get to know themselves and the world. They offer their services in exchange for food, shelter and a negotiable wage. Several rules and traditions guide this journey, many of which are related to questions of sociality, mobility, and questions of media. As based both in tradition and contemporary times, as highly mobile, but also highly disconnected, the wandering craftsman’s form of mobility serves the basis for reconsidering and further developing our understanding of the mobilities / mobile media and communication / socialities triangle. The chapter does so via a review of both the traditions and the current practices. One media practice that the contribution focusses upon is the lack of digital media use on the Walz, since carrying mobile phones is forbidden. Nonetheless, so the chapter’s claim, the Walz represents a highly modern version of mobile socialities.
