While the label ‘backpacker’ didn’t originate in 1990 when first presented at an academic conference by the late Philip L. Pearce, its usage rose within an emerging academic discourse community that established shared interests, sources of information, terminology, and methods of communication, along with a certain level of expertise and knowledge on the subject. While the community internationalised and embraced interdisciplinary approaches, a review of the academic scholarship points to the communities increasing instability, as differential authoritative voices conflict over discursive conventions that regulate our understanding of backpacking. While once conceptual and theoretical developments in backpacker research were built through subject level consensus, distinctions within the community point to new hierarchies, with their own particular schools of thought and reinterpretations. As disparities, incongruities and deviations in backpacker research output emerge, this overview explores current research directions and identifies paradoxes, challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

虽然“背包客”这个标签并非起源于已故的Philip L. Pearce在1990年的一次学术会议上首次提出，但它的使用却在新兴的学术话语社区中兴起，该社区建立了共同的利益，信息来源，术语和方法。交流，以及有关该主题的一定水平的专业知识和知识。当社区国际化并采用跨学科方法时，对学术奖学金的评论指出社区日益不稳定，因为不同的权威性声音与规范我们对背包的理解的话语惯例发生冲突。背包客研究的概念和理论发展曾经是通过学科水平的共识而建立的社区内部的差异指向新的层次结构，具有自己特定的思想流派和重新诠释。背包客研究成果出现差异，不一致和偏差时，本文概述了当前的研究方向，并确定了未来的悖论，挑战和机遇。