Living in My Car: Interactions Between Young Adults and Cars in the Balearic Islands (Spain)

Abstract

Young adults have traditionally used cars as a way to achieve a sense of freedom and independence. However, the interaction between young adults and cars is about more than just mobility, involving the creation of effective social spaces even in static situations. This paper focuses on such relationships from an auto-ethnographic and auto-ethnoarchaeological perspective by studying both the materiality present in young adults' cars and the practices typical of this group in this location. I discuss a case study centred on the university community in the Balearic Islands (Spain), demonstrating that young adults' use of cars is dynamic, and that they interpret them as habitable spaces by transferring certain domestic activities to their realm. In turn, cars are essential allies in the construction of young adults' social spaces and the configuration of auto-reflexive and group identities.