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80 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 3 2o17
Samantha Wilkinson, Catherine Wilkinson | Night-Life and Young Peopleâs Atmospheric Mobilities
consumption. After this, we outline the studyâs methodology. Before concluding, we present
data surrounding two main themes: alcohol-related vehicular mobilities, and atmospheres of
club space.
Young Peopleâs Im/Mobilities
Recent work within the âmobile turnâ makes clear that young urbanites are of an age where
mobility is crucial in order to take advantage of the resources, recreation and sociality offered by
urbanscapes (Skelton 2013). Skelton and Gough (2013) proclaim that this is an important aspect
of âgrowing upâ and identity formation. When alcohol-related mobilities have been considered
in the literature, often the âimmaterialâ embodied and sensory aspects have been marginalised.
For instance, Gannon et al. (2014) focuses on drink walking; that is, walking in a public place
whilst intoxicated. According to the authors, it is commonplace for young people to have con-
sumed alcohol in bars and clubs, and to walk to their next destination â or, to pre-drink at
home and walk to a bar/club/pub or party to continue consuming alcohol. Gannon et al. (2014)
utilise the theory of planned behaviour, based on the premise that people make rational deci-
sions to perform a behaviour that is within their control. This theoretical framework predicts
that a person would have stronger intentions to drink walk, and ultimately s/he would be more
likely to drink walk if: s/he has positive attitudes towards drink walking; perceives approval/
support from important others for drink walking; and believes drink walking is a behaviour
that is easy to perform. However, as Spinney (2009, 821) questions: âwhat about the intangible
and ephemeral, the meanings that accrue in the context of the journey itself?â
There is a rich literature on the embodied experiences of vehicular travel, which opens
up possibilities for the study of young peopleâs alcohol-related mobilities. For instance, Bis-
sell (2014) draws on not-so-representational understandings of bodies to explore how stress
has an ambivalent and complex constitution through the ways in which everyday practices
of commuting are implicated in processes of bodily transformation. Additionally, car travel
has been explored as an embodied and emotional experience. Sheller (2004) documents the
wide range of feelings elicited from cars; these include: the pleasurable experience of driving,
the outburst of âroad rageâ, the exhilaration of speed, and the security engendered by driving a
âsafe carâ. Consequently, Sheller (2004, 221) coins the term âautomotive emotionsâ to refer to
the âembodied disposition of car-users and the visceral and other feelings associated with car
useâ. This coincides with Sheller and Urryâs (2006) contention that means of travel is not only
a way of getting as quickly as possible from âA to Bâ; each means provides different experiences,
performances and affordances.
Researchers have also begun to pay attention to the emotional and embodied experiences
of dancing mobilities (Boyd, 2014). For instance, Merriman (2010) argues that dance is a pro-
cessual, embodied movement practice that brings about transformations in movement space.
Further, Jones (2005, 814) labels dancing âphysically intense and emotionally chargedâ. By
taking into consideration the embodied, emotional and affective dimensions of dance, Thrift
(1997) argues that one can move away from a negative understanding, whereby the body only
has the capacity to be elusive. That is, it can avoid compliance with social controls, to an un-
derstanding of the body as a body-subject, with the capacity to jointly configure numerous
different realms of experience. According to Thrift (1997), the elusive expressive power of the
Mobile Culture Studies
The Journal, Band 3/2017
- Titel
- Mobile Culture Studies
- Untertitel
- The Journal
- Band
- 3/2017
- Herausgeber
- Karl Franzens University Graz
- Ort
- Graz
- Datum
- 2017
- Sprache
- deutsch, englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 198
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften Mobile Culture Studies The Journal