I won’t be posting much on this blog from now on, although it’s not going to disappear.
Instead, I’m going to be posting material related to my research and teaching here at my new blog. It won’t just be about cycling but, as you might expect, cycling will continue to be a major theme. I will be posting my publications, news about events, projects, etc. and think pieces.
I have written a short article which will be published in the Autumn edition of the ESRC’s Society Now magazine. It summarises and updates some of the arguments in my Mobilities paper, also recently discussed in a blog post by As Easy As Riding A Bike.
The Mobilities paper itself is currently access-controlled by the publisher, but I’d be happy to send out personal copies to anyone who wants to read it and can’t access it – please just email me.
The Cycling and Society Symposium has finished, and I am exhausted – but in a good way 
Eighty people (from academia, advocacy, policy and practice) came over the two days and we had a packed programme.
Discussions over lunch and poster session, Monday
Lots of ideas, lots of networking, lots of debate over a day and a half (and an evening in the pub). Nineteen talks (and associated discussion), sixteen posters (ditto), and a Sunday afternoon ride. There was more of an international flavour this year, with contingents from (among other countries) Denmark and The Netherlands. (A moment that made me smile on the ride: when one of the participants, gazing at a ‘good example’ of cycle infrastructure, said tactfully ‘You know it is rather strange seeing this coming from The Netherlands’).
Near Lock 7, Sunday afternoon bike ride.
Thanks to all participants, presenters, chairs, abstract reviewers, co-organisers, helpers on the day, etc… (people who came up at busy points and said ‘what can I do?’, you know who you are!)
Godwin explaining his poster to Trine
I plan, over the next month, to upload and link to files including pictures, audio recordings of talks and presentation files (subject to presenters’ agreement). Watch this space – and, if you’ve got any photos etc. from the event that you’d like me to share links to, let me know
More articles are on the way based on the Cycling Cultures research. The paper that Kat and I wrote on Group Cycle Rides is now published in the June issue of Sociology. Another co-authored paper, on cycling’s sensory strategies (known between Kat and I as the ‘Zombie paper’ because its original title referred to ‘iPod Zombies’) was referred back for minor revisions and is now being re-considered by Mobilities. And a paper I’ve written entitled Governing Transport from Welfare State to Hollow State: the case of cycling in the UK is in press. You can read an author’s version here.
I’ve also been out and about last week, attending (a) the first day of the Modelling World conference, (b) a workshop to inform the development of the STEP-CHANGE project, and (c) the inaugural meeting of the European Cycle Logistics Forum. All fascinating, but only the last involved the opportunity to ride an electric-assist Bakfiets during the lunch break…
We launched the report yesterday at UEL Stratford – thanks to all who came, we hope you found it interesting and useful. It’s now available in pdf form here.
Our paper on ‘group rides’ (Constructing Mobile Places Between ‘Leisure’ and ‘Transport’: A Case Study of Two Group Cycle Rides) is now available online from Sociology for those with journal access. If you haven’t got access, feel free to email me for a personal copy, or you can read an earlier version on the papers page.
Here’s the abstract:
This article contributes to a growing literature examining the sociological significance of mobile places, exploring mobile place-making through an analysis of the practice of weekend group leisure cycling. These rides represent a mobility practice where the main aim of participants may be ‘leisure’ but most infrastructure used is designated for ‘transport’. Using ethnographic methods, the article provides an analysis of rhythm, positioning and communication on two group rides, one from Hull into the East Yorkshire countryside and one in London. External (including motor traffic flow and route type) and internal (including group composition and experience) factors shape the relationship between the riders and their ride, and hence the mobile places that they co-create. The article argues that cyclists riding in groups create distinctively flexible social spaces. These group cycling practices variously challenge, mimic and adapt to the motorized orientation of much road space.
I have had lots of requests for this paper after mentioning it on the blog. Having checked with the publisher, I realise that I am allowed to post a version of the article online now. This is the pre-peer review version so the one eventually published in Mobilities (hopefully in May/June) will be slightly different. Please click here to download the pre-print.
Incompetent, or too competent? Negotiating everyday cycling identities in a motor dominated society
Abstract:
This paper uses the concept of stigma to explore cycling identities in the UK. Drawing on interview data, it argues that people who cycle are caught between two threats: appearing too competent as a cyclist (a ‘proper cyclist’), and appearing not competent enough (a ‘bad cyclist’). Strategies of identity management are discussed, which can include elements of negotiation, disavowal, and challenge. The paper aims to show that transport modes can produce disadvantaged and stigmatised social identities: like other forms of stigma these are mediated both by social environments and by other social identities. Implications for policy and advocacy are suggested.
I’ve been finishing off my amendments to the article ‘Incompetent, or too competent: negotiating everyday cycling identities in a motor dominated society’. Subject to them agreeing the amends, it will be going in Mobilities journal While I can’t post it online now because of copyright restrictions, I am happy to email it to anyone who’s interested.
In some ways this is a companion piece to my published article on ‘Cycling Citizenship’ which looks at positive discourses around being a cyclist and how these relate to practices of mobile citizenship. This one looks at ‘the cyclist’ as a stigmatised identity using some of the interview data from Cambridge and Hull. It argues that cyclists are caught between stereotypes of being an incompetent cyclist (the ‘bad cyclist’) and being too competent a cyclist (the ‘proper cyclist’, ‘bike nut’, ‘avid cyclist’, etc.)
Here’s a sample bit of data about being a ‘proper cyclist’ -
‘Oh I would say an avid cyclist is somebody who like, they live and breathe it really. You know the sort, you’ll see them when you’re driving somewhere going up a really steep hill and all you can see is these legs like tree trunks (laughter)’
Most people had vivid descriptions of one kind or another, representing the kind of cyclist they were definitely not. In the article I discuss this as a way of drawing boundaries, negotiating identity and avoiding what stigma writers call a ‘spoiled identity’. Also in the article I talk about some of the ways that being ‘a cyclist’ interacts differently with other social identities (class, gender, etc.) depending on the context. For example, in Cambridge cycling has a more middle-class image than it does in Hull, and that matters for how cyclists perceive themselves – and how easy or difficult it might be to be ‘a cyclist’.
One thing I don’t get a chance to discuss in the article is how cycling identities are informed by, and inform, cycling politics. This is something that’s being hotly debated in London at the moment – not necessarily in so many words, but in arguments around how advocacy should work, what forms activism should take, and so on. One sign of this is the email I got over the weekend from Lilli about the Londoners on Bikes project, a new group seeking to mobilise a cyclist ‘block vote’ in the upcoming mayoral elections.
I thought it was interesting (a) to see this form of cycling activism develop and (b) more specifically, the choice of name – ‘on bikes’ rather than ‘cyclists’. With the research internship on advocacy and activism, I’ll be thinking some more about how different forms of activism and advocacy mobilise different conceptions of ‘the cyclist’, ‘people on bikes’, ‘potential cyclists’ and so on, and the implications of this in turn for the changing politics of cycling.
Over the Summer Kim, Justin, and I carried out some pilot research into cycle training in London, interviewing trainers and trainees. Kim and I have written a short report based on the research, which can be downloaded here from the Sustainable Mobilities Group website. We are hoping to run a larger follow-on project looking at cycle training, using ethnography alongside other methods.
Thanks to all participants who contributed to the research and the organisations including TfL who helped arrange access.
The poster presentation took place this week for UEL’s Research Internship Schemes. There were 42 Undergraduate Research Interns and nearly all of them had produced a poster. Posters were judged by John Joughin (UEL) and Mick Healey (University of Gloucestershire).
The standard was high so we were very pleased that Eva won one of three prizes for the best poster. The research has also been featured in the Hackney Gazette.
Eva speaking to Mick Healey.