Owners of the Map

Motorcycle Taxi Drivers, Mobility, and Politics in Bangkok

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology
Cover of the book Owners of the Map by Claudio Sopranzetti, University of California Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Claudio Sopranzetti ISBN: 9780520963399
Publisher: University of California Press Publication: November 10, 2017
Imprint: University of California Press Language: English
Author: Claudio Sopranzetti
ISBN: 9780520963399
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication: November 10, 2017
Imprint: University of California Press
Language: English

On May 19, 2010, the Royal Thai Army deployed tanks, snipers, and war weapons to disperse the thousands of Red Shirts protesters who had taken over the commercial center of Bangkok to demand democratic elections and an end to inequality. Key to this mobilization were motorcycle taxi drivers, who slowed down, filtered, and severed mobility in the area, claiming a prominent role in national politics and ownership over the city and challenging state hegemony. Four years later, on May 20, 2014, the same army general who directed the dispersal staged a coup, unopposed by protesters. How could state power have been so fragile and open to challenge in 2010 and yet so seemingly sturdy only four years later? How could protesters who had once fearlessly resisted military attacks now remain silent?
 
*Owners of the Map *provides answers to these questions—central to contemporary political mobilizations around the globe—through an ethnographic study of motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok. Claudio Sopranzetti advances an analysis of power that focuses not on the sturdiness of hegemony or the ubiquity of everyday resistance but on its potential fragility and the work needed for its maintenance.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

On May 19, 2010, the Royal Thai Army deployed tanks, snipers, and war weapons to disperse the thousands of Red Shirts protesters who had taken over the commercial center of Bangkok to demand democratic elections and an end to inequality. Key to this mobilization were motorcycle taxi drivers, who slowed down, filtered, and severed mobility in the area, claiming a prominent role in national politics and ownership over the city and challenging state hegemony. Four years later, on May 20, 2014, the same army general who directed the dispersal staged a coup, unopposed by protesters. How could state power have been so fragile and open to challenge in 2010 and yet so seemingly sturdy only four years later? How could protesters who had once fearlessly resisted military attacks now remain silent?
 
*Owners of the Map *provides answers to these questions—central to contemporary political mobilizations around the globe—through an ethnographic study of motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok. Claudio Sopranzetti advances an analysis of power that focuses not on the sturdiness of hegemony or the ubiquity of everyday resistance but on its potential fragility and the work needed for its maintenance.

More books from University of California Press

Cover of the book French Wine by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Laughter in Ancient Rome by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Globalization by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Handbook of Religion and the Asian City by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Road Out by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Hollywood Vault by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Foundational Films by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Hoptopia by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book The Nature of the Beasts by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Jazz, Rock, and Rebels by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book San Francisco in the 1930s by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Haunting Images by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Giving to God by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Compassion, Inc. by Claudio Sopranzetti
Cover of the book Parting Ways by Claudio Sopranzetti
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy