Humanity has always been on the move, and humans have always been attached to their means of transportation. There is virtually no part of life that has not been shaped by the contemporary vehicles, public or private, by which people have gotten around. Where we live and work and how and with whom we spend our leisure time would not be the same without our vehicles. Our landscape has been reshaped and our built environment configured to accommodate them. Poetry, literature, music, film, television, photography, Internet sites, and other arts have featured them. They often stand at the forefront of significant technological change and have always been the source of competition, professional and amateur, real and virtual. Sometimes they have been celebrated and sometimes reviled, but we have never been indifferent to their importance. Our vehicles have made—or are believed to have made—powerful statements about race, gender, ethnicity, wealth, politics, social class, and personality. Vehicle culture—about ships, boats, planes, trains, automobiles, motorcycles, and whatever else has moved us—concerns how all of this has been, and is, happening.
We invite abstracts for papers and panel proposals that explore the diverse intersections between vehicles, vehicular transportation, and culture. We are committed to serious academic scholarship while also encouraging the exploration of new subjects or new approaches to more familiar ones.
Examples:
- Social Perspectives of Vehicle Culture
- Vehicle History and Business
- Vehicle Culture across Industry
- Vehicles and Their Humans
- The Once and Future Automobile
Example Titles
- A little dragon conquering the world: How the Korean automobile and gaming industry influence the global market
- An excursion to non-fictional motor racing: how Graton embeds contemporary Franco-Belgian social perspectives into the Vaillant’s vehicle design philosophy
- Demystifying the Fork-Tailed Devil: The Origins of 1950s Fins
- Hands Off the Wheel: The Coming Case for Banning Human-Driven Vehicles
- Pink Power: The Barbie Car and Female Automobility
- You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby: How the Winchesters’ 1967 Impala Escapes Supernatural’s Treatment of Female Characters
- Vehicle Dwellers-Homeless or Liberated Anti-Materialists: History and Trends
Abstracts should be a maximum 250 words.
Contact:
Dr Amee Kim
Christ Church Business School, Canterbury Christ Church University, North Holmes Road, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 1QU, United Kingdom
