Mobilities can be banal or extraordinary. They are filled with meanings that tell us about the world we live in.
“Rather than focusing on the ‘end result’ of mobility, a mobilities scholar will focus on the practices, power structures and relationality of different mobilities: for example, what the bodily experience of riding a crowded bus is like, who uses public transport in the first place, or how people on the bus interact with one another.”
This is how Academy Research Fellow Anna-Leena Toivanen, Docent in Postcolonial Literary Studies, describes mobility studies. Together with her German colleague Magdalena Pfalzgraf, she recently co-edited a special issue for the journal English Studies in Africa, titled Moving Publicly, Writing Mobility: Public Transport in African Literatures. As the name suggests, the special issue focuses on representations of public transport in African literatures.
“With this special issue, we wanted to shed light on this interdisciplinary field of research from the perspective of the humanities. In mobility studies, mobilities are seen as the very subject of research, rather than a byproduct of other social phenomena.”
In migration studies, for example, the focus is often on countries of origin and destination, and migration is detached from other forms of mobility. In mobility studies, however, mobilities are seen as a fundamental characteristic of societies and cultures. This type of research examines the movement of people, objects and ideas, and their relationships with one another, in various contexts.
“Mobility, at its simplest, is movement from point A to point B, and mobility studies focuses on what happens in between. Individuals are part of broader mobility systems, which include infrastructures and vehicles that enable movement, and other people.”
An interdisciplinary field of research
Mobilities can be either banal or out of the ordinary. They are filled with meanings that tell us about the world we live in.
“Driving and flying, for example, can be examined from technical, political, historical, geographical or cultural perspectives – all of which complement one another. Our world is in constant motion, and it is important to understand the meanings associated with different mobilities. Understanding these meanings requires a research perspective stemming from the humanities and cultural studies.”
In Finland, research into mobilities remains relatively scarce. Globally, however, mobility humanities is an emerging field of research, bringing together literary scholars, historians, geographers and anthropologists.
“Here at the University of Eastern Finland, we have some individual researchers within the BoMoCult research community who are engaged in mobility studies. I hope that my work, and that of my research group, will highlight the contribution of mobility studies to the examination of cultural phenomena.”
A launch event open to all
In the humanities and social sciences, public transport remains a relatively under-researched area, especially in the context of the Global South, and, indeed, the recent special issue by Toivanen and Pfalzgraf has already attracted interest across disciplinary boundaries.
“The articles included in the special issue examine local everyday mobilities and how literature produces their meanings. The articles by Sophie Kriegel and Sarah Gibson, for example, explore public transport in the context of apartheid and pre-apartheid periods. The research material provides unique insights into this heavily racialized world of mobilities.”
Taiwo Osinubi, on the other hand, highlights the role of public transport as a place of encounters and conflicts in the works of the renowned Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, while the articles authored by Ye Li and Mapule Mohulatsi discuss the role of public transport in shaping the relationships of individuals and communities with urban space.
A launch event for the special issue will be held online on Friday, 8 November, at 12 noon.
Professor Bradley Rink of the University of the Western Cape is the invited speaker of the event. He reflects on the significance of the special issue for interdisciplinary mobility studies. The event is open to everyone interested.
Special Issue: “Moving Publicly, Writing Mobility: Public Transport in African Literatures”. English Studies in Africa 67.2 (2024), edited by Anna-Leena Toivanen (UEF) and Magdalena Pfalzgraf (University of Bonn). https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/reia20/67/2?nav=tocList
