Automobility – or the complex and expanding system associated with, and foundational to, motor vehicle transportation – is fundamental to heterogeneous contemporary social and spatial practices. In recent years, critical scholars have increasingly problematized the complex social implications of automobility. In doing so, they have challenged some of the central assumptions of automobility and contributed to critical re-imaginings of the social organization of mobilities. The term auto-mobility has been deployed to connote the experiential aspects of ‘car culture’, as delineated from the broader system of automobility. The conceptual theme of this session – ‘differential auto-mobilities’ – highlights the crucial influence of power dynamics on historically situated subjects’ differential experiences of, and relationships to, automobility. This focus grounds a critical analysis of automobility within embodied, lived experiences. It emphasizes the complex and interstitial relationships between automobility and various axes of inequality; including race, class, and gender. It also draws attention to the need for a reflexive incorporation of social justice perspectives into critical automobility advocacy and research.Scholars and advocates are invited to submit papers that address all aspects of this theme, or related topics in social inequality and automobility research.
Session Organizer: Amie McLean, PhD Student, Simon Fraser University, amie_mclean@sfu.ca
Session Code: SoIn3
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.