The Cultures of Alternative Mobilities: Routes Less Travelled

by Phillip Vannini (Editor)

Overview

The Cultures of Alternative Mobilities presents a series of ethnographic studies, focusing on the local cultures of mobilities and immobilities, emphasizing the everyday sense of contingency and heterogeneity that accompanies them. Compensating for the excess of theory and criticism based on the notion of 'hypermobilities', this book sheds light on the nuanced differences and idiosyncrasies of mobility, with a view to rediscovering meanings and lifestyles marked by movement and immobility. Original, empirical and global case studies are presented by an international team of scholars, exploring the complex, negotiated and contingent nature of the social worlds of movement. By avoiding sweeping generalizations on the deeply connected and readily mobile nature of society as a whole, this volume sheds light on the diversity of mobility modes in an accessible and interdisciplinary form that will be of key interest, to sociologists, geographers and scholars of human mobility, communication and culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317036579
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/16/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	300
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Phillip Vannini is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University, Canada

Table of Contents

Contents: Foreword: mobilities as culture, Ole B. Jensen; The cultures of alternative mobilities, Phillip Vannini; Part 1 Performing Space and Time: Paddle and portage: the travail of BWCA canoe travel, Dennis D. Waskul and Michele E. Waskul; Walking and sitting in Australian Antarctic Territory: mobility and imperial space, Christy Collis; Moving with others: the sociality of the railway journey, David Bissell; The view from the air: the cultural geographies of flight, Lucy Budd; The making of mundane bus journeys, Juliet Jain. Part 2 Mobile Biographies, Identities, and Lifestyles: Dear Diary: auto/biography, respect, and mobility, Gayle Letherby and Jon Shaw; Immobile mobility in daily travelling experiences in Santiago de Chile, Paola Jirón; Mobility in later life: time, choice, and action, Lena Levin; Solitude at sea or social sailing? The constitution and perception of the cruising community, Martina Kleinert; Mobility as strategy, mobility as tactic: post-industrialism and bike messengers, Jeffrey L. Kidder. Part 3 The Materialities of Mobility: Wet and boisterous: the lumpy romance of commuting by boat, Roger Boshier; Cancelled, aborted, late, mechanical: the vagaries of air travel in Arviat, Nunavut, Canada, Lisa-Jo van den Scott; Mobility, ritual, and performance: an ethnography of parents', children's and youths' ferry boat travel, Phillip Vannini and April Vannini with Jacob Manson and Autumn Vannini; Coming of age in a time of motorcycles, Richard G. Mitchell Jr and Adele Kubein; Winslow - a city in motion, Janna Jones and Mark Neumann; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'Offbeat journeys - by rhythmic canoe, crowded mass transit, traffic-weaving bike, temperamental small boats and planes, stylized motorcycles and yachts - are poignantly brought to life, filled with sociability, anxiety, pleasure, danger, waiting and nostalgia. In the company of quirky companions, the game reader tags along into subcultures of transport, gleaning eccentric insights into routes less travelled, but all the more savoured.' Mimi Sheller, Drexel University, USA 'This book assembles a selection of lively, rich and poetic depictions of mobility grounded in diverse case studies, providing a refreshing corrective to the over-concentration on car and aeroplane travel in mobilities research. By avoiding hyperbole which emphasises speed and placelessness, and focusing on the hitherto neglected mobilities of buses, boats and canoes, motorcycling and trains, this delightful collection significantly extends ideas about mobility.' Tim Edensor, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK 'This book, simply put, is amazing... accessible and outstanding. It would be a great textbook for undergraduate anthropology students interested in studying social anthropology research.' Anthropological Notebooks 'This edited collection provides a significant contribution to the field of mobility Studies... the editor argues that a homogenous picture has been painted because of a hegemonic focus on automobility and aeromobility. Vannini's accomplishment is bringing together a collection that moves beyond these established themes, and that instead seeks out the 'creative marginalities of mobility' by focusing on the everyday plurality of modes, sites and practices... The Cultures of Alternative Mobilities presents a series of highly accessible and engaging ethnographic studies which all succeed to greater or lesser degree in rendering visible accounts of the trials and tribulations of 'alternative' travel... This publication is a significant contribution to the field and could be a

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