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Mobile Meat Puppetry? Ruined Infrastructures, Embodiment and Agency in Driving

2017; Scientific Research Publishing; Volume: 08; Issue: 01 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4236/aa.2018.81001

2163-9361

Andrew Dawson,

Turkey's Politics and Society

Contemporary automobilities research is replete with representation of a docile driver body or, as it is sometimes humorously described, a ‘mobile meat puppet’. This emerges, largely from research on automobilities in ‘Developed-World’ contexts. Contrastingly, in this article, through ethnography of driving experiences in post-Socialist and post-war Bosnia I explore material grounds for an agential driver. In particular, I consider how the enduring and decaying road infrastructure of Socialist Yugoslavia provides a basis for senses of empowerment in relation to new ethnic-nationalist states that are often experienced as oppressive and controlling.