Roads and Anthropology: Ethnographic Perspectives on Space, Time and (Im)Mobility

The Epistemological and Ethical Value of Autophotography for Mobilities Research in Transcultural Contexts

“…Consequently, one relevant analytical question is, how are Shimshalis using the road as a discursive resource for the constitution of individual and collective identity? (see Campbell, 2012;Dalakoglou & Harvey, 2012;Demenge, 2012). Although a detailed answer is not possible here, we devote our final paragraphs to illustrating how pictorial and narrative references to the road were used to promote three overlapping discourses of Shimshali identity.…”

Why Marx Was a Bad Driver: Alienation to Sensuality in the Anthropology of Automobility

“…There is for sure a small body of anthropological research on the meaningfulness of cars, prime examples of which are Miller's volume within the Material Cultures tradition (2001) and Lipset and Handler's volume on the role of the car as a metaphor in culture, politics and history (Lipset & Handler, 2014). Likewise, there is a small body of anthropological literature on the social relations between drivers/passengers and other drivers/passengers (Yazici, 2012), between drivers/passengers and the milieus they pass through (Klaeger, 2012), and between drivers/passengers and the "moorings" (Hannam, Sheller, & Urry, 2006) that enable automobility, such as roads (Dalakoglou & Harvey, 2012;. To an even lesser extent, there is a very small body of anthropological literature on the interiority of the car-for example, the social relations between drivers and passengers, the non-driving behaviours of drivers (such as mobile working) and, the focus of this article, the emotions and feelings experienced whilst driving (Bishara, 2015;Dawson, 2015a;Yazıcı, 2013).…”

The Art of Neighbouring. Making Relations Across China's Borders

“…In recent years, a number of anthropologists have called for studying infrastructure more closely, as it both structures and 'reveal [s] fragile relations between people, things, and the institutions (both public and private) that seek to govern' (Appel et al 2015, Larkin 2013. Studying peoples' encounters with the materiality of transport, such as roads and shipping logistics (Chua 2015, Dalakoglou andHarvey 2012) involves not only mobility across borders, but the lesser-studied obstacles to mobility as well (Sheller 2010).…”