About 10 years ago, mobility studies became a specialized yet interdisciplinary academic field in the social sciences, particularly in European academia in the English language, and other developed countries. The publication of scholarly journals that specialize in the study of mobility such as Mobilities, Transfers, Applied Mobilities, and the like, attests to its recognition as a distinct field of scholarly inquiry. Its institutionalization was not only due to the growth in the research and publication in the field but also the establishment of research institutions such as the Center for Mobilities Research (CEMORE) at Lancaster University, England, Center for Mobilities and Urban Studies (CMUS) at Aalborg University, Germany, Center for Mobilities Research and Policy (MCenter), USA, and the Cultural Mobilities Research (CuMoRe) at Leuven University, Belgium.

John Urry, one of the pioneers of mobility studies, conceptualized trans-national studies and trans-disciplinary studies of the kind that worked beyond the notion of…