Nomadic Modernity

“The whole of modernity,” Bauman wrote, “stands out from preceding epochs by its compulsive and obsessive modernizing—and modernizing means liquefaction, melting and smelting.” Relationships have become provisional. Anxieties are no longer concrete and local but diffuse and global. Products are designed for obsolescence. Even identity itself is consumable—you “try on” selves like clothes, discarding them when they no longer serve you. Gender is merely an expression, and love is whatever you want it to be. The self is a fleshly vehicle for expression. We pursue progress for the sake of progress, not toward any destination.