From back cover:
“Nomadic people have historically posed the greatest threats to and have been the most maligned by State powers. Pirates, Barbarians, Romani, and Bedouins, amongst other transient groups, have historically been in conflict with civilizing forces and systems of power due to their illegibility and the extent to which these populations are difficult to control. Hitchhiking is not only fun, but is also a strategy for evading the confines of State power and the repression that is an intrinsic component of forced sedentization. When I learned about hitchhiking, a world of possibilities opened up to me. Learning about and embracing this modality helped me see that none of the paths set out for us that dictate how we are supposed to navigate the world are inevitabilities. I could turn life into a choose-your-own-adventure story or RPG instead of being deeply depressed due to being confined to the normative trajectories that were imposed on me. In the traveling world, if riding freight trains is a science then hitchhiking can be considered an art. Riding trains requires a lot of precision and careful calculations, while hitchhiking is deeply complex, interrelational, and unpredictable. There is also no objectively good or bad way of going about it. As is the case with art hitchhiking is largely about personal style and preference.”
