Zach Furness has written a lot about bicycles and politics. In this article, published in the journal Social Epistemology, he discusses a couple of historical examples of bicycle-related activism.
A key idea is that a common technology (the bicycle) can be used for multiple purposes. For example, it can be used for transportation, for fitness, for fun — and it can be used to critique our society, and perhaps as a way of imagining a better world.
For Furness, a key part of using technology in activism isĀ communication. This kind of communication has at least two key parts:
- communication with “outside” audiences– the people the activists seek to influence
- communication among activists or within groups — participation in movements can create social bonds and “conviviality”
Read Furness’s article on Canvas: https://usfca.instructure.com/courses/1568307/pages/furness-on-biketivism