IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v21y2021i3p264-279.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rational versus Fashionable: Youth Identity, Play and Agency in Namibian Cycling Mobilities

Author

Listed:
  • Lucy Baker

    (Transport Studies Unit, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK)

Abstract

The bicycle has been prescribed as an ‘intermediate mode of transport’ intended as a low-cost approach to address mobility inequality and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Within this framework, the bicycle is commonly intended to technologically advance head portage for those who cannot access motorized transport. The singular vision of the bicycle as a load-carrying device has sought to encourage industrious activities over alternative practices, such as play, embodied sensory experiences of mobility and conspicuous consumption for identity performance that are important aspects of youth agency. This article alternatively demonstrates the complexity of mobility and consumer behaviour among young Namibians as they negotiate multiple identities embodied in their mobility. In doing so, the article examines the limitations of youth agency expressed in play, mobility and subject formation, given the normative understandings of gender.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucy Baker, 2021. "Rational versus Fashionable: Youth Identity, Play and Agency in Namibian Cycling Mobilities," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 21(3), pages 264-279, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:21:y:2021:i:3:p:264-279
    DOI: 10.1177/14649934211018519
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14649934211018519
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14649934211018519?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bryceson, Deborah Fahy & Howe, John, 1993. "Rural household transport in Africa: Reducing the burden on women?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 21(11), pages 1715-1728, November.
    2. Leinbach, Thomas R., 1995. "Transport and Third World development: Review, issues, and prescription," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 337-344, September.
    3. Kaus, Wolfhard, 2013. "Conspicuous consumption and “race”: Evidence from South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 63-73.
    4. Porter, Gina, 2002. "Living in a Walking World: Rural Mobility and Social Equity Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 285-300, February.
    5. Gina Porter, 2014. "Transport Services and Their Impact on Poverty and Growth in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Recent Research and Future Research Needs," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 25-45, January.
    6. Amitava Krishna Dutt & Benjamin Radcliff (ed.), 2009. "Happiness, Economics and Politics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13280.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Seedhouse, Andrew & Johnson, Rebecca & Newbery, Robert, 2016. "Potholes and pitfalls: The impact of rural transport on female entrepreneurs in Nigeria," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 140-147.
    2. Nathaniel Dede-Bamfo & T. Edwin Chow & Chikodinaka Vanessa Ekeanyanwu, 2023. "Local Perspectives on Spatial Accessibility to Market in the Afram Plains, Ghana," International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research (IJAGR), IGI Global, vol. 14(1), pages 1-24, January.
    3. Yu, Zhao & Zhao, Pengjun, 2021. "The factors in residents' mobility in rural towns of China: Car ownership, road infrastructure and public transport services," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Baker, Lucy, 2020. "Constructing sub-Saharan African mobilities through the flow of second-hand objects: Scripting bicycles for Namibian users," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    5. Benevenuto, Rodolfo & Caulfield, Brian, 2020. "Measuring access to urban centres in rural Northeast Brazil: A spatial accessibility poverty index," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Lucas, Karen, 2011. "Making the connections between transport disadvantage and the social exclusion of low income populations in the Tshwane Region of South Africa," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1320-1334.
    7. Yang Zhou & Chunyang Tong & Yongsheng Wang, 2022. "Road construction, economic growth, and poverty alleviation in China," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 1306-1332, September.
    8. Clemens Greiner & David Greven & Britta Klagge, 2021. "Roads to Change: Livelihoods, Land Disputes, and Anticipation of Future Developments in Rural Kenya," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(4), pages 1044-1068, August.
    9. Porter, Gina & Hampshire, Kate & Abane, Albert & Munthali, Alister & Robson, Elsbeth & Mashiri, Mac & Tanle, Augustine & Maponya, Goodhope & Dube, Sipho, 2012. "Child Porterage and Africa’s Transport Gap: Evidence from Ghana, Malawi and South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 2136-2154.
    10. Porter, Gina & Hampshire, Kate & Dunn, Christine & Hall, Richard & Levesley, Martin & Burton, Kim & Robson, Steve & Abane, Albert & Blell, Mwenza & Panther, Julia, 2013. "Health impacts of pedestrian head-loading: A review of the evidence with particular reference to women and children in sub-Saharan Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 90-97.
    11. Sergio Da Silva & Raul Matsushita & Vanessa Valcanover & Jessica Campara & Newton Da Costa, 2022. "Losses make choices nonpositional," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(11), pages 1-11, November.
    12. Olsson, Jerry, 2009. "Improved road accessibility and indirect development effects: evidence from rural Philippines," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 476-483.
    13. Simone Schneider, 2012. "Income Inequality and its Consequences for Life Satisfaction: What Role do Social Cognitions Play?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 106(3), pages 419-438, May.
    14. Violeta Misheva, 2016. "What Determines Emotional Well-Being? The Role of Adverse Experiences: Evidence Using Twin Data," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 1921-1937, October.
    15. Sakari Kainulainen, 2020. "Flourishing within the Working-Aged Finnish Population," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 187-205, March.
    16. Shenggen Fan & Xiaobo Zhang, 2008. "Public Expenditure, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Rural Uganda," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 20(3), pages 466-496.
    17. Noah Kaiser & Christina K. Barstow, 2022. "Rural Transportation Infrastructure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Impacts, Implications, and Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-48, February.
    18. Jaikumar, Saravana & Singh, Ramendra & Sarin, Ankur, 2018. "‘I show off, so I am well off’: Subjective economic well-being and conspicuous consumption in an emerging economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 386-393.
    19. Charles Kunaka & Gaël Raballand & Mike Fitzmaurice, 2016. "How trucking services have improved and may contribute to economic development: The case of East Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2016-152, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Ronelle Burger & Megan Louw & Brigitte Barbara Isabel de Oliveira Pegado & Servaas van der Berg, 2015. "Understanding consumption patterns of the established and emerging South African black middle class," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 41-56, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:21:y:2021:i:3:p:264-279. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.