Liquid spaces : alcohol and mobility in Cape Town
Abstract
Fading focus, fear and fortification frame most discourse and policy on alcohol in circulatory spaces. In-vehicle spaces and boarding points command most attention in regulatory practice and in surveys. Observational fieldwork and ethnographies in Cape Town suggest alternative sites and scales of interest and concern relating to mobility and alcohol (ab)use. Platform, barrier and vehicle are not the only affected spaces: neighbourhoods of embarkation and disembarkation can also be contested and conflictual. These additional sites of struggle are material as well as imaginary, symbolic and internalised: liquid spaces are also a dimension of lived and felt mobility disadvantage and stress.
Citation
Pirie, G. Liquid spaces : alcohol and mobility in Cape Town. Presented at Society of South African Geographers (SSAG) conference : building critical conversations in geography, Cape Town, 20 June 2012. (2012)