Reconsidering the bicycle : an anthropological perspective on a new (old) thing / Luis A. Vivanco.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vivanco, Luis Antonio, 1969-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bicycles.

Cycling.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 153 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Routledge, [2013]

Summary:

In cities throughout the world, bicycles have gained a high profile in recent years, with politicians and activists promoting initiatives such as bike lanes, bikeways, bike-share programs, and other social programs to get more people on bicycles. Bicycles in the city are, some would say, the wave of the future for car-choked, financially strapped, obese, and sustainability-sensitive urban areas. This book explores how and why people are reconsidering the bicycle, no longer thinking of it simply as a toy or exercise machine, but as a potential solution to a number of contemporary problems. It focuses in particular on what reconsidering the bicycle might mean for everyday practices and politics of urban mobility, a concept that refers to the intertwined physical, technological, social, and experiential dimensions of human movement. This book is for Introductory Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Sociology, Environmental Anthropology, and Urban Sociology courses. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Anthropology, Bicycles, and Urban Mobility 1

Reconsidering the Bicycle 2

Toward an Anthropology of Urban Bicycle Mobility 8

Fieldwork on Two Wheels: Pedaling Toward Critical Estrangement 14

For Further Exploration 21

2 What (and When) is a Bicycle? 23

Part One: A Brief History of Bicycles 26

Part Two: A Bicycle is a Multidimensional Object 41

For Further Exploration 55

3 Constructing Urban Bicycle Cultures: Perspectives on Three Cities 57

Urban Form, Mobility Systems, and Bicycles 60

AMSTERDAM: Unfazed and Nonplussed on Two Wheels 69

BOGOTÁ: "Bicycle Consciousness" and the Right to the City 76

BURLINGTON: Sharing the Road in a "Bicycle Friendly Community" 84

Conclusion 95

For Further Exploration 96

4 "Good for the Cause": The Bike Movement as Social Action and Cultural Politics 99

Constructing a Bike Movement with a Politically Flexible Symbol 103

Asserting the Visibility (and Invisibility) of the Bicycle 111

Dilemmas of Fun and Convenience 119

Conclusion 124

For Further Exploration 125

5 Conclusion: On the Need for the Bicycle 127.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415503884

0415503884

9780415503891

0415503892

9780203584538

0203584538

OCLC:

746838022