From Peripatetic Anthropology to the Ethnography of Roads and Motorisation in Africa
This paper is based on 10 months of field work between 2009 and 2014 in Cape Verde, and provides an overview of the anthropological literature in which motor vehicles and African roads are studied as social phenomena. Until the end of the twentieth century, most ethnographies have failed to focus on...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Cadernos de Estudos Africanos |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cea/4118 |
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| author | Gerard Horta |
| author_facet | Gerard Horta |
| author_sort | Gerard Horta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper is based on 10 months of field work between 2009 and 2014 in Cape Verde, and provides an overview of the anthropological literature in which motor vehicles and African roads are studied as social phenomena. Until the end of the twentieth century, most ethnographies have failed to focus on the countless social processes linked to the development of mobility by road and the motorisation of transportation in Africa, or on the role played by cars and roads as symbols of a globalised modernity. The paper reviews the research by authors who, from the 1930s onwards, mention African roads and the use of motor vehicles as spaces in which social situations and processes take place. The several symbolic and instrumental dimensions of the motorisation of road transportation in Africa are discussed as well. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-49bdfe7abe9c476db413663b883e02fc |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1645-3794 2182-7400 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | Instituto Universitário de Lisboa |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cadernos de Estudos Africanos |
| spelling | doaj-art-49bdfe7abe9c476db413663b883e02fc2025-08-20T01:54:11ZengInstituto Universitário de LisboaCadernos de Estudos Africanos1645-37942182-74002019-07-013721323310.4000/cea.4118From Peripatetic Anthropology to the Ethnography of Roads and Motorisation in AfricaGerard HortaThis paper is based on 10 months of field work between 2009 and 2014 in Cape Verde, and provides an overview of the anthropological literature in which motor vehicles and African roads are studied as social phenomena. Until the end of the twentieth century, most ethnographies have failed to focus on the countless social processes linked to the development of mobility by road and the motorisation of transportation in Africa, or on the role played by cars and roads as symbols of a globalised modernity. The paper reviews the research by authors who, from the 1930s onwards, mention African roads and the use of motor vehicles as spaces in which social situations and processes take place. The several symbolic and instrumental dimensions of the motorisation of road transportation in Africa are discussed as well.https://journals.openedition.org/cea/4118anthropology of African roadsAfrican mobilitymotorisation in Africa |
| spellingShingle | Gerard Horta From Peripatetic Anthropology to the Ethnography of Roads and Motorisation in Africa Cadernos de Estudos Africanos anthropology of African roads African mobility motorisation in Africa |
| title | From Peripatetic Anthropology to the Ethnography of Roads and Motorisation in Africa |
| title_full | From Peripatetic Anthropology to the Ethnography of Roads and Motorisation in Africa |
| title_fullStr | From Peripatetic Anthropology to the Ethnography of Roads and Motorisation in Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | From Peripatetic Anthropology to the Ethnography of Roads and Motorisation in Africa |
| title_short | From Peripatetic Anthropology to the Ethnography of Roads and Motorisation in Africa |
| title_sort | from peripatetic anthropology to the ethnography of roads and motorisation in africa |
| topic | anthropology of African roads African mobility motorisation in Africa |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cea/4118 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gerardhorta fromperipateticanthropologytotheethnographyofroadsandmotorisationinafrica |