Sorry GS popped you out there. As I'm from the GS, I dislike the term, it
makes little sense, so I tend to use it flippantly. I've also been known to
refer to my place of abode as the NH (northern hemisphere) if anyone dares
to use the word "Africa" as if it's a country.
As you can guess, I spend a lot of time standing with hands punched on my
hips with a stare of rigid disapproval.
Great point and one I was working towards - how do you define, shall we say,
taxi driving (as opposed to driver)?
Carole Enahoro
Department of Geography
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jonathan Cloke
Sent: 24 June 2011 21:35
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: taxi driving geographers
There's a real danger of objectifying the 'taxi driver' here, isn't there?
In cities across the global south (and do we really have to use the acronym
GS for this?) there are a vast range of transport-related pluriactivities
that may or may not correspond to driving a taxi. In Managua (where I've
spent some time) if you stand by the side of the road and stick your hand
out within a short time someone will stop and pick you up - they may be a
taxi-driver but equally likely they're not, they're just someone who sees a
chance to make a quick buck, particularly if you're chele, foreigner. There
are trucks that trundle across and between the cities of the pacific zone
there that don't seem to have any formal timetable, the people just gather
in a certain place and wait patiently and a truck will arrive - how they
know is quite a mystery. There are shared cars that go along set routes,
there are microbuses that take small groups of people and again have no
timetable, and most of the people who drive these things have other jobs too
- so isn't a valid starting point for this question, how do you define
taxi-driver?
And does it really make much sense to construct an icon of 'the knowledge',
in an age of SatNav?
Dr Jon Cloke
Lecturer/Research Associate
Geography Department
Loughborough University
Loughborough LE11 3TU
Office: 01509 228193
Mob: 07984 813681
________________________________________
From: A forum for critical and radical geographers
[[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hugh Crosfield
[[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 June 2011 13:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: taxi driving geographers
While i don't know of any Taxi driving geographers, I am currently working
on a NGO called Stop The Traffik who are running taxi driver workshops to
utilise the 'community knowledge' of taxi drivers with the aim of uncovering
signs of trafficking practices (the controlled movement of people into forms
of forced labour through deception). The project is in its infancy but STT
believe that taxi drivers could be key witnesses to 'new' forms of slavery
in the London area. I think this highlights how taxi drivers are connected
to informal economies of labour and policing. (any taxi drivers on this
forum like to comment?!). STT believe that more than the cognitive and
kinesthetic learning of 'the knowledge', taxi drivers combine their learned
mobility and heightened recognition of places with an understanding of less
visible cultural channels of communication and interaction. But critically,
these are perhaps unwanted responsibilities.
Anyone who has worked with taxi drivers please comment!
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