Dirt Jumps are Matter Carefully Placed, Maintained, and Governed

Abstract

This article draws on research produced with DIY bike trail and dirt jump builders to unpack the forms of repair and care that they employ in maintaining their spaces. I begin by describing the mundane practices involved in keeping bike trails running, such as shoveling, watering, and compacting, and conceptualize these activities as repairing the ‘ruins’ of the often squatted spaces that they occupy. Second, I draw from literature in feminist science and technology studies (STS) and commons to argue for a thickening of care, finding that these spaces alert me to the ways that ‘neglect’, and exclusion from participation-in, and research-on, are often a requirement of their subsistence. In conclusion, I find that in these spaces forms of repair and maintenance are multiple and layered―from mundane practices to their forms of governance—and in recent years, have involved practices to ‘repair’ the pervasive and dominating macho, heteronormative cultures of these social worlds.

Keywords

• DIY design
• bike trail building
• care
• repair
• commons