Mobile Meat Puppetry? Ruined Infrastructures, Embodiment and Agency in Driving ()
ABSTRACT
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.
Share and Cite:
Dawson, A. (2018) Mobile Meat Puppetry? Ruined Infrastructures, Embodiment and Agency in Driving.
Advances in Anthropology,
8, 1-9. doi:
10.4236/aa.2018.81001.