Cody Rodriguez
PhD
Cody is a PhD candidate (Arts) at the University of Melbourne. He is a first-generation university graduate and identifies as Chicano American. His academic training prior to joining SSPS spans the London School of Economics, the University of Hawai‘i, and Columbia University. His research interests include the examination of social inequality and culture, alienation, mobility, and marginalised identities. He also appreciates strong commitments to mobility centered ethnographic approaches. Alongside his research, Cody brings substantial teaching experience as an internationally qualified educator and aims to build a career as a full-time university lecturer and innovative ethnographic researcher.
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Thesis
Liminal Lifestyle Mobilities: Betwixt and Between "Living the Dream" of Vanlife and "Surviving the Nightmare" of Vehicular Homelessness
My thesis examines vanlife in the post-pandemic United States as a liminal form of vehicular residency between the aspirational ideal of #vanlife and the vulnerabilities of vehicular homelessness. Drawing on a two-year hybrid ethnography combining in-person fieldwork and remote digital methods, the findings reveal a subculture defined by a stratified spectrum of mobility shaped by unequal access to resources. Many full-time nomads during this timeframe occupy a position that cannot be reduced theoretically to either lifestyle choice or social precarity alone. To address this analytical gap, I introduce the concept of Liminal Lifestyle Mobilities to theorize mobility inequality, identity, and belonging under late-stage capitalism.
Research interests
- Alienation
- Ethnography
- Mobilities
- Nomadism
- Vanlife