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Mobilising bodies: difference , power and ecology in urban cycling practices

Mobilising bodies: difference , power and ecology in urban cycling practices. Anna Davidson Transport Studies Unit School of Geography & Environment University of Oxford. Outline. Background Literature context A space for critical theory?

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Mobilising bodies: difference , power and ecology in urban cycling practices

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  1. Mobilising bodies: difference, power and ecology in urban cycling practices Anna Davidson Transport Studies Unit School of Geography & Environment University of Oxford

  2. Outline • Background • Literature context • A space for critical theory? • Unpacking power, bodily/urban ecologies & difference (with critical theory) • Research questions • Methodology • Fieldwork sites

  3. Image source: http://www.lolwithme.org/?tag=this-one-runs-on-money-and-makes-you-fat

  4. Image source: http://hazler.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/picture-53.png

  5. Literature context – cycling practices • Cycling and bodies… • Psychological/economics – behaviour change “nudge” • Public health (safety, obesity, activity levels) • Sustainability (reduction in air pollution, carbon footprints) • Urban planning & transport BUT aggregated, categorized bodies…. “Real bodies moving have never been at the top of the agenda in transport studies” (Creswell, 2010, p.19) Cycling bodies in socialcontexts: • Micro: Individual embodied experiences (Dewsbury 2011; Jones; Spinney) • Meso: Cycling as group politics & citizenship (e.g. Aldred) Critical mass (Furness) • Macro: Socio-technical change, systems theory. Automobility dominant paradigm, cycling as subaltern mode (Urry; Geels) BUT…what structures ‘normal’, embedded normative assumptions (‘good’ bodies/cities/lifestyles/progress)? Who gains/loses – why? - power

  6. A space for critical theory?ecologies, power, difference & other conversations across divides

  7. Unpacking: Bodily/urban ecologies

  8. http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/carnage-on-londons-streets-as-cyclist-hit-by-coach-is-left-fighting-for-life-just-hours-after-man-is-killed-by-lorry-8923706.htmlhttp://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/carnage-on-londons-streets-as-cyclist-hit-by-coach-is-left-fighting-for-life-just-hours-after-man-is-killed-by-lorry-8923706.html Fragilebodies(body-thing assemblagesdisassembled?)

  9. Image source: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Zoh4wVU221s/UjEc-dOPqEI/AAAAAAAAEOU/mG38yi7s_jA/s0/photo.jpg and http://thewheeloftime.biz/bike-riding-a-little-rough Bodily ecologies Baksteen to bakfiets

  10. Unpacking: Power

  11. Image source: http://ovarianpsycos.com/clitoral-mass-2/and html http://ovarianpsycosdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/253199_10151462348799611_595298254_n.jpg?w=540 Power as biopower, life & death

  12. Image source: http://www.strangedangers.com/content/item/181590. Power in the ‘normal’ & mundanemovementsof bodies

  13. Unpacking: Difference

  14. ‘Othered’ bodies

  15. ‘Othered’ contexts “the bicycle is often seen as an intermediate stage in what could be termed the transport development cycle as countries progress from low to high car ownership and eventually back to low impact travel” (MacKinnon et al, 2008 in Pooley et al., 2013)

  16. Research Questions • How can theorizations of bodies, cycles and urban environments (assembled together as urban body-ecologies) help construct understandings and practices that move towards healthier, more inclusive, ‘sustainable’ cities? • How can we understand the ways bodily differences and norms of cycling body-ecologies are constituted in different contexts and under different relations of power? • In what ways might bodies engaged in everyday urban cycling practices represent a form of resistance against dominant systems, normativities, ideologies and means of/towards mobility. • What are the creative and political implications of undertaking research as ‘creative contagion’ – bringing into contact divergent cycling practices from different contexts, using collaborative, action-based research methods?

  17. Methodology “creative contagion” • Approach: inspired by epistemologies associated with critical theory • Assumptions: • Methods themselves co-create what is studied (Law, Latour) • Role of researcher – embodied, self-reflexive Lends itself to: participative & action research

  18. Where & why – ”contagion” not comparison

  19. What & how Ethnographic methods: • Participant observation • Informal semi-structured interviews • Video diaries/ mobile video/ audio interviews Documentary data: • Policy documents • Publications/websites/video output Participatory research: • Video exchanges & reflections shared between contexts (potentially: focus on ‘nomadic subjects’ – individuals who have moved between contexts) • Creation of a platform for sharing (website/blog/Youtube)

  20. Image source: Mike Kemp: http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000We39kAQunnc/fit=1000x750/20100612world-naked-bike-rideL.jpg Questions?

  21. More at… anna.davidson@ouce.ox.ac.uk @acdavids http://cyclesandthings.wordpress.com/

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