Passion and marginality of ciclomobilities in Colombia (1950-1970)

Abstract

This paper describes the ambiguity of the meaning of ciclomobilities in Colombia between 1950 and 1970. In those years there was an important increase in the everyday use of bicycles, as well as the establishment of the Tour of Colombia cycle race. The analysis seeks to comprehend the role of bicycles and cyclists in the practices and meanings of everyday mobilities in cities. The findings of the research are described and discussed through three key aspects: incorporations and co-productions of cyclists and bicycles; the cycling fever motivated by the first Tours of Colombia; and the conflicts generated by cycle riding on the streets of the cities. The research used content and visual analysis of journals and magazines of Bogotá and Barranquilla, from a qualitative perspective. The analysis applied classification and coding procedures, with the intention of constructing emerging categories from the sources. Such procedures agree with an interpretive perspective towards the elaboration of a thick description of ideas, notions, points of view, and explanations contained in a corpus of information produced in particular circumstances of time, place, actors, and power relations. Among the texts and images analyzed are news, stories, advertisements and photographs published in different media and illustrated books. This interpretive analysis helps to develop the category of mobile subjectivities, focused on the comprehension of the assemblage of urban mobilities in a period of important change in the streets, mobile technologies and everyday life in Colombian cities. The main aim of this article is the description of the ambivalent situation of ciclomobilities in Colombia, in a period in which the use of bicyles, the numbers of cycling fans, and the risks associated with everyday cycle use increased remarkably.

Keywords

• ciclismo
• movilidades urbanas
• subjetividades móviles
• tecnologías de las movilidades.