Life (and limb) in the fast-lane: disposable people as infrastructure in Kampala’s boda boda industry
Motorcycle taxis, dubbed boda bodas, constitute a vital aspect of Kampala’s transportation infrastructure, yet the industry is perpetually precarious, threatened with wholesale eviction. Moreover, drivers’ lives and bodies are continually put at risk by the city’s traffic. Through a relational appro...
| Автор: | |
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| Формат: | Journal article |
| Мова: | English |
| Опубліковано: |
Routledge
2017
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| _version_ | 1826271018028630016 |
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| author | Doherty, J |
| author_facet | Doherty, J |
| author_sort | Doherty, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Motorcycle taxis, dubbed boda bodas, constitute a vital aspect of Kampala’s transportation infrastructure, yet the industry is perpetually precarious, threatened with wholesale eviction. Moreover, drivers’ lives and bodies are continually put at risk by the city’s traffic. Through a relational approach to ontology, this article asks how the boda boda industry comes into being and endures, what forms of vulnerability it entails, and what experiences, relations, and forms of urban life it produces. It argues that three forms disposability structure and arise from the industry – structural unemployment, embodied vulnerability, and infrastructural displacement. Infrastructural violence, it is argued, must be considered when describing and theorizing people as infrastructure. The article examines how boda boda drivers’ shared condition of insecurity and disposability generates intense forms of sociality, solidarity, mutual obligation, recognition, and urban vitality. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T21:49:59Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:4ae9f2d7-d38e-4170-92f6-a0e8209a26f9 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T21:49:59Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:4ae9f2d7-d38e-4170-92f6-a0e8209a26f92022-03-26T15:40:27ZLife (and limb) in the fast-lane: disposable people as infrastructure in Kampala’s boda boda industryJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:4ae9f2d7-d38e-4170-92f6-a0e8209a26f9EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordRoutledge2017Doherty, JMotorcycle taxis, dubbed boda bodas, constitute a vital aspect of Kampala’s transportation infrastructure, yet the industry is perpetually precarious, threatened with wholesale eviction. Moreover, drivers’ lives and bodies are continually put at risk by the city’s traffic. Through a relational approach to ontology, this article asks how the boda boda industry comes into being and endures, what forms of vulnerability it entails, and what experiences, relations, and forms of urban life it produces. It argues that three forms disposability structure and arise from the industry – structural unemployment, embodied vulnerability, and infrastructural displacement. Infrastructural violence, it is argued, must be considered when describing and theorizing people as infrastructure. The article examines how boda boda drivers’ shared condition of insecurity and disposability generates intense forms of sociality, solidarity, mutual obligation, recognition, and urban vitality. |
| spellingShingle | Doherty, J Life (and limb) in the fast-lane: disposable people as infrastructure in Kampala’s boda boda industry |
| title | Life (and limb) in the fast-lane: disposable people as infrastructure in Kampala’s boda boda industry |
| title_full | Life (and limb) in the fast-lane: disposable people as infrastructure in Kampala’s boda boda industry |
| title_fullStr | Life (and limb) in the fast-lane: disposable people as infrastructure in Kampala’s boda boda industry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life (and limb) in the fast-lane: disposable people as infrastructure in Kampala’s boda boda industry |
| title_short | Life (and limb) in the fast-lane: disposable people as infrastructure in Kampala’s boda boda industry |
| title_sort | life and limb in the fast lane disposable people as infrastructure in kampala s boda boda industry |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dohertyj lifeandlimbinthefastlanedisposablepeopleasinfrastructureinkampalasbodabodaindustry |