Mobility, Space and Power: On the Multiplicities of Seeing Mobility

Abstract

Mobility as a key modern phenomenon can be seen in multiple ways and this article raises the question of how mobility becomes visible and real through diverse ways of seeing mobility. Mobility's different aspects appear and take place in particular spatial settings under the workings of diverse forms of power, and recognizing this informs us about the making of spatialised mobility. It is shown how mobility intermingles with perceptions, experiences and desires of the modern self. Such workings of power relate, among other things, to framing and imagining, practising and experiencing mobility. Capturing ways of seeing mobility thus widens our language for engaging with questions of mobility and its political and social reality and possible futures.

Organizing Solidarity Initiatives: A Socio-spatial Conceptualization of Resistance

“…Mobility -the physical, temporal, economic and symbolic-imaginary movement of people, resources, ideas, images and information -cannot be performed without the existence of temporary spatial, infrastructural and institutional 'moorings' (Adey, 2010;Baerenholdt, 2013;Cresswell, 2006;Massey, 2005;Thrift, 2008;Jensen, 2011;Urry, 2007). Mobility and fixity therefore are inherently linked; one cannot exist without the other and they 'should not be seen as opposites, but as mutually constitutive conditions that intermingle in nuanced ways in the everyday lives of individuals' (McMorran, 2015, p. 83; see also Rogaly, 2015).…”

Discourses of Mobility: Institutions, Everyday Lives and Embodiment

“…Scholars have differentially drawn from Foucault, both implicitly (Shove and Walker 2010;Shove, Pantzar, and Watson 2012) and explicitly (Richardson and Jensen 2000;Jensen 2011Jensen , 2013Baerenholdt 2013) in seeking to understand the dynamics of power that characterise the labyrinthine relations between political processes at macro and micro levels. Paterson (2007) details Foucault's early engagement with mobility and governance in Madness and civilization, where he talks of 'the problem of movement' in governing populations.…”

‘Moving to stay in the same place?’ Academics and theatrical artists as exemplars of the ‘mobile middle’

“…In addition, the in-depth exploration of how academics and theatrical artists as exemplars of the 'mobile middle' evaluate and reflect upon 39 mobility shows that in many instances they engage in mobility in order to maintain the professional and economic position that they occupy. The study thus illustrates the ambivalences and frictions encompassing mobility as a 'key modern phenomenon' (Jensen, 2011), and, in doing so, makes a contribution to calls for micro-level analyses in the context of mobile work and work practices (e.g. Cohen, 2010).…”

“…Similarly, geographical movement is connected to upwards and downwards social mobility in that it can be a source of an increase in individuals' social status, but can also result in a decrease of social status or its loss (Sheller and Urry, 2006). Mobility, moreover, always involves a temporal dimension: individuals' movements in space may span a short or a long timeframe, and occur according to different temporal patterns and rhythms throughout different stages of life (Jensen, 2011;Peters et al, 2010). Further, movement across space has a bodily and emotional dimension (Conradson and Mckay, 2007) as practices of mobility associated with, for example, working and commuting involve the development of particular habits and modes of conduct, triggered by and shaping the embodied experience of movement (Doughty and Murray, 2014).…”