Scholars have argued that transitions to more sustainable and just mobilities require moving beyond technocentrism to rethink the very meaning of mobility in cities, communities, and societies. This paper demonstrates that such rethinking is inherently political. In particular, we focus on recent theorisations of commoning practices that have gained traction in geographic literatures. Drawing on our global comparative research of low‐carbon mobility transitions, we argue that critical mobilities scholars can rethink and expand the understanding of mobility through engagement with commons–enclosure thinking. We present a new concept, “commoning mobility,” a theorisation that both envisions and shapes practices that develop fairer and greener mobilities and more inclusive, collaboratively governed societies. Our analysis introduces three “logics” of mobility transition projects. First, the paper discusses how a logic of scarcity has been a driver for mobility planning as the scarcity of oil, finance, space, and time are invoked across the world as stimuli for aspiring to greener, “smarter,” and cheaper mobilities. The paper then identifies two responses to the logic of scarcity: the logics of austerity and the logics of commoning. Austere mobilities are examined to problematise the distribution of responsibility for emissions and ensuing injustices and exclusion in low‐carbon transitions. The logics of commoning shows a potential to reassess mobility not only as an individual freedom but also as a collective good, paving the way for fairer mobility transitions and a collaborative tackling of sustainable mobility challenges.
This paper presents an overview of the emergence of mobile ethnography and its potential benets to the discipline of geography. The rise of mobile ethnography has been linked with the so-called "new mobilities paradigm", which has become especially important in geographical thinking over the past ten years. Erstwhile focused on more static concepts, such as space, place or landscape, geography is today rife with theories and analyses of movement, mobility and ow. In spite of that, mobile ethnography can soon claim a preeminent status within the discipline. In this paper, I document the rise of this methodology, focusing myself on three main aspects. The rst is to attempt a denition of mobile ethnography itself. The second is to enlist some recent examples of its usages. The third is to provide several strategies and techniques arising from my own work. This paper might, thus, be useful to senior undergraduate and postgraduate students focused on qualitative research methods in geography.
This paper revolves around the intersections of mobility and identity. In Europe mobility is often regarded as a producer of cultural proximity amongst European citizens and member states, bearing the potential to fabricate some kind of European identity. Many of the top-down policies of the European Union have been based on the assumption that the more we move, the more European we become. In this paper my intention is to contribute to this debate, bringing to the foreground a case of mobility in Europe that contradicts this vision: the mobile lives of Portuguese truck drivers, from a particular Portuguese company, within the Eurozone. Through an ethnographic account of these individuals, I show how mobility can be responsible for a reproduction of strong local identities. Rather than culturally transposing barriers, the drivers live their professional lives in a kind of nationalised nutshell on wheels. These findings present an opportunity to reflect on how the European free market requires a form of immobilised movement from many professionals in order to function smoothly. In fact, the freedom of many (European citizens) may entail the confinement of others.
This article examines how a group of musicians produce and reproduce their identities whilst on the move. More specifically, it shows how touring (a very specific type of mobility) affects and impacts the musicians' processes of identity construction. What is it like to be on the road? How do musicians value this experience? What meanings do they confer to their mobility? How does it impact on their identities as musicians? The paper is divided into four parts. First it provides a portrait of what it is like to be on the road with a band in order to inquire into the musicians' motivations to tour in the second section. Then, there is a significant shift from ethnographic accounts to historical analysis. The third part explores links between the rock culture and mobile sensibilities, from a historical point of view. It concludes with a consideration of the musician as a figure of mobility: someone who depends on mobility to construct himself as such.
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