Abstract
From the preface of the book Cycling Culture:
In her chapter, Ida Sabelis considers how the very ordinariness of the bicycle as a transport choice in the Netherlands can actually render it invisible despite its ubiquity. Whereas the resurgence of Dutch cycling in the 1970s was brought about by concerted policy intervention (Stoffers 2012), the very success of these processes four decades on risks losing grasp of the mechanisms needed to bring about change. Moreover, normative assumptions about what it means to travel and about the travelling body become problematic for those who do not, for whatever reason, conform to those norms. A process of “othering” takes place. Applying insights developed in the sociology of diversity and applied in business, she shows how these barriers, physical and conceptual, might be overcome. Whilst not explicitly discussed in the chapter, it is worth noting that the manner in which the topic is explored here typifies work emerging from the mobilities field in that it is clearly indebted to postcolonial and feminist theory for its framing of the problematic and in the search for solutions.
In her chapter, Ida Sabelis considers how the very ordinariness of the bicycle as a transport choice in the Netherlands can actually render it invisible despite its ubiquity. Whereas the resurgence of Dutch cycling in the 1970s was brought about by concerted policy intervention (Stoffers 2012), the very success of these processes four decades on risks losing grasp of the mechanisms needed to bring about change. Moreover, normative assumptions about what it means to travel and about the travelling body become problematic for those who do not, for whatever reason, conform to those norms. A process of “othering” takes place. Applying insights developed in the sociology of diversity and applied in business, she shows how these barriers, physical and conceptual, might be overcome. Whilst not explicitly discussed in the chapter, it is worth noting that the manner in which the topic is explored here typifies work emerging from the mobilities field in that it is clearly indebted to postcolonial and feminist theory for its framing of the problematic and in the search for solutions.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Cycling Cultures |
Editors | P. Cox |
Place of Publication | Chester |
Publisher | Chester University Press |
Pages | 43-62 |
Number of pages | 19 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781908258113 |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |