The kavatzas of Gavdos: heterotopias apart from modern societies.

Abstract

Abstract This chapter presents the results of in-depth observations and interviews of locals and tourists in the Greek island of Gavdos during 2018 and 2019 in an attempt to advance the study on antinomian travellers. The study analysed the way that tourists, the majority being regulars, used to live nude under cedar trees scattered on the beaches, the so-called kavatzas. The study remarks that the profiles of Gavdos travellers are varied but most of them share a certain rejection of modern society, and the spaces they occupy correspond to what the French philosopher Michel Foucault called heterotopias, i.e. spaces adopting behaviours which are at odds with social rules, and everyone can feel free and in harmony with nature. It is suggested that this profile goes beyond degrowth inspired travelling tourism; it is about the meaning of life.