Ferry Tales

The purpose of this rich and innovatively presented ethnography is to explore mobility, sense of place and time on the British Columbia coast. On the basis of almost 400 interviews with ferry passengers and over 250 ferry journeys, the author narrates and reflects on the performance of travel and on the consequences of ferry-dependence on island and coastal communities. Ferry Tales inaugurates a new series entitled Innovative Ethnographies for Routledge (innovativeethnographies.net). The purpose of this hypermedia book series is to use digital technologies to capture a richer, multimodal view of social life than was otherwise done in the classic, print-based tradition of ethnography, while maintaining the traditional strengths of classic, ethnographic analysis. Visit the book's website at

“"This is a book to savor slowly. Presented as a multimedia experimental ethnography embedded with sound recordings, maps, photos, and website, Ferry Taleswill transform how we share scholarship as well as how we think about mobility and moorings."--Mimi Sheller, Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, Drexel University "This deliciously written (and titled) text is a mobile ethnography of performance, action and ritual as played out on and around the islands and coasts on Canada's west coast. Ferry Taleswill transport readers to fresh and humane reconstitutions of space, place, time, and technology."--Godfrey Baldacchino, Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada "...in his direct and affectionate observations of how we live and move on this coast, he captures us as individuals and as a culture."--Crawford Kilian, The Tyee "Reading Ferry Talesand experiencing the complementary material on the book's website is a thoroughly enjoyable process. It is an imaginative and innovative work that is to be relished, not rushed."”

"This is a book to savor slowly. Presented as a multimedia experimental ethnography embedded with sound recordings, maps, photos, and website, Ferry Tales will transform how we share scholarship as well as how we think about mobility and moorings."--Mimi Sheller, Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, Drexel University "This deliciously written (and titled) text is a mobile ethnography of performance, action and ritual as played out on and around the islands and coasts on Canada's west coast. Ferry Tales will transport readers to fresh and humane reconstitutions of space, place, time, and technology."--Godfrey Baldacchino, Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada

Phillip Vannini is Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University, in Victoria, Canada, and Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Public Ethnography. He is author and editor of eight books including Understanding Society through Popular Music (with Joe Kotarba), and The Senses in Self, Culture, and Society (both published by Routledge).

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