“And There Is Hope on the Road”: Nomadland’s American West

Abstract

Jessica Bruder’s Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-first Century (2017) and Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland (2020) display a contemporary phenomenon which is growing in America, especially in the most western states: people who “choose” the road and mobility as a way of life, thus becoming nomads. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the topic of the American road within this book and movie, on its real and mythical sides, and on issues of mobility. This will inevitably lead to consider the contemporary American West, here too in its real and mythical features. Bearing in mind the strong connection between the American road and the American West, Nomadland contributes to a reimagination and a rethinking of American mobility.