De-severing distance

This paper raws on the growing body of mobility literature that shows how mobility can be viewed as meaningful everyday practices (Freudendal –Pedersen 2007, Cresswell 2006) this paper examines how Heidegger’s term de-severing can help us understand the everyday coping with commuting. It analyses how different types of mobile practices and dwelling can works as a tools for de-severing distance. The focal points will be on individual and social practices in regional trains as well as the infrastructural setting of the home and the existential importance of the home.
The empirical material that the paper draws on is collected while using mobile ethnographies and ethnographical interviews on two trains lines in the south of Denmark as well The paper is based on two empirical investigations. First; mobile ethnographies carried out amongst commuters travelling by train. In Denmark, the commuters who live in the Region of Zealand in the south eastern part of the country are the commuters who by far commute the longest distances between home and work. In 2013 they commuted 31% more than the national average and 57% more than their fellow commuters in the neighboring capital region (Danmarks Statistik). The mobile ethnographies were conducted during all four seasons of the year. The fieldwork concentrated on two different train lines that connect the capital region with its outskirts. Secondly: the paper draws on in depth ethnographical interviews, conducted in the homes of 11 urban families who have moved to the countryside and chosen to commute in order to dwell there.