Performing the Self Abroad: Travel Writing as Identity Construction in the Age of Social Media

Abstract

Travel writing, as a literary genre that records journeys, has become a performative in the digital age, of building an online identity. Social media like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and personal travel blogs have changed the definition of travel by giving people a platform to share a pretty and feel-good story that can be viewed by others. This article explores how the contemporary travel writing helps to create identity but is not an accurate rendition of lived experience. The study is based on Judith Butler's theory of performativity and theories of digital selfhood, which explain that the travel stories shared on social media are created through repetitive performances created to gain visibility, validation and social recognition. In digital travel culture, however, Butler's idea of performativity – one in which identity is not fixed but is instead continually produced through acts and representations – has great applicability to the situation (Butler, 1990).

The article also delves into the ways in which travel influencers and digital creators craft an image of themselves as adventurers, spiritual explorers, luxury travelers, or digital nomads in the images, captions, hashtags, and videos they create. These stories are not meant to present spontaneous experiences, but rather, some editing, aesthetics, and selective telling of the story to maintain an idealized online body. Authenticity is translated through algorithms, audience expectations and platform economies in this context. This study also considers the concept of hyperreality introduced by Jean Baudrillard (1994) and how social media travel content often constructs a fake sense of reality and fake performance of reality (FPR). The “Instagrammable” destination can be more than a cultural experience; it's a visual experience.

The article adopts a qualitative, textual and visual analysis methodology to analyze selected travel blogs, Instagram travel pages and TikTok travel narratives to gain insight into the role of digital travel writing in perpetuating the current cultures of ‘self-branding’ and ‘online visibility'. The study emphasizes the interaction with the audience, algorithmic pressure and the culture of influencers on the construction of modern travel stories. It also suggests that as a result of these cultural changes in identity formation, travel writing in the digital age of social media has come to mean the visibility and performance of the writer, making it a reflection of changing social definition of personal worth and social legitimacy. Finally, the article goes on to argue that today's travel writing is not just about the journeys of places but is also about the ‘doing of the self' in curated ways for digital audiences. In this metamorphosis, the act of traveling comes to be personal and public, reflecting technology, consumer culture and politics of online representation.