ABSTRACT
Surf trips are a fundamental element of the surfing experience. They are the ideal expression of a journey in which the physical body is at once a tool for exploration, performance, communication, and representation. This chapter explores the meaning of bodies on a surf trip through the lens of the United States’ conception of modern surfing, resting on the notions of progress, borders, masculinity, and whiteness. The physical body is conceptualized as a multidimensional bearer of culture and the surf trip as an American form of imperialism. This approach highlights how American surfers’ wanderlust showcases Americanness (the quality of being American) and enables Americanity (American domination founded on the idea of progress). This ethnographic research rooted in American Studies shows how Floridian surfers’ bodies carry an American mythology from their land to a ‘foreign’ one, the Maldives. Their embodiment of Western surfing culture is contrasted with a version of Islamic culture. These surfers’ practices mirror their surfing community's complex subjectivities. Their traveling bodies bear an intrinsic cultural load and function as agents of imperialism, diplomacy, and ambassadorship. Anne Barjolin-Smith analyzes how these surfers’ traveling bodies become political entities underlying cultural, ideological, historical, and geographical issues.
