Abstract / Description of output
How are moral values involved in the production of urban mobilities? Through an ethnographic analysis of the boda boda motorcycle taxi industry in Kampala, Uganda, this paper describes the norms, institutions, and social practices through which multiple form of ethical personhood are realized and spatialized. Focusing on how digital ride-hailing platforms and municipal registration efforts have interacted with the city’s existing transport infrastructures, the paper examines the competing moral logics of personhood, the historically and culturally variable conception of what constitutes a full ethical person, that these projects embody. Motorcycle taxi drivers have developed intensive moral economies, with corresponding spatial institutions, that mediate the harsh competition of the industry. Rather than simply displacing existing norms, digital platforms build on and supplement the long-standing embedded institutions and moral economies of the boda boda industry. By contrast, municipal reforms were rejected, however, because they failed to recognize the moral norms and practices at the heart of the boda boda industry and thus negated drivers’ personhood.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Geoforum |
Early online date | 21 Apr 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 21 Apr 2020 |