The Immobility Turn

The Immobility Turn explores changes that have taken place in various forms of mobility and migration since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This turn follows a long period during which the popularity of various forms of human circulation expanded to an unprecedented degree, reflected in the theoretical idea of a ‘mobility turn’. The pandemic temporarily put this expansion into reverse, creating an imperative to rethink the place of mobility in our lives and its social, economic and political value. In addition to exploring this change at a theoretical level, the authors illustrate some of the dilemmas that have arisen for international travellers, using evidence drawn from empirical research conducted in Portugal, a country that was a centre of mobility expansionism until early 2020, especially in regard to international tourism, student mobility and labour migration.