Abstract

CICALESE, Guillermo  and  MONTES, Nahuel. Devices, platforms and geographical imaginaries. First-person stories from traveling YouTubers. Bol. estud. geogr. [online]. 2023, n.120, pp.265-289.  Epub Mar 11, 2024. ISSN 2525-1813.  http://dx.doi.org/10.48162/rev.40.038.

The present work explores audiovisual travel narratives produced by YouTubers. These new cultural mediators travel to different parts of the world and document their experiences on video to share on YouTube. The challenge of understanding what we call Coolture Geography is to address the transition from massive-popular geographies to algorithmic geographies that create geographic imaginaries, where YouTubers play a relevant role. The methodological strategy used required the selection of analysis units through the criterion of theoretical sampling, from which significant cases were established that allowed for the production of conceptual articulations. We note that these new digital formats are disrupting the notions of travel and landscape by establishing new modes of relationship between the scene and the viewer. The digital traveler articulates the place given to the exotic with images consumed worldwide that are already part of a geographic-communicational imaginary.

Keywords : Travel YouTubers; Geographic Imaginaries; Coolture Geography; Digital Culture; Landscape.