מחשבות ומבנה והתחלה 21-1-09

Introduction: Textual
auto(im)mobilities

--definition:
Somewhere to the end and not beginning of this section. The term BS
refers to temporary notices that are put on automobile's external
spaces, usually through some kind of glue??. As Bloch (2000b)
perceptively argues in relation to political BSs, that these stickers
amount to a public medium of communication which is inexpensive, and
which offers access to the public scene and is readily accessible to
many citizens (p. 443). In line with the material sensitivities
promoted above, it should be noted that while BSs are indeed
inexpensive to produce and are usually distributed freely, cars
are not so cheap and are usually not distributed freely. Hence,
arguing for the accessibility of BSs as Bloch and other do, evinces a
naturalized and unproblematized appreciation of the sphere of
automobility.

--My
point of entry into the discussion of mobilities and immobilities of
texts, and the meanings tests carry and create concerns first and
foremost an appreciation of texts' material dimensions, or the
materiality of texts. By this term I refer to the material or
physical quality of texts, suggesting that texts are by no means
abstract semiotic entities. Rather, texts make meaning, which is to
say that they are part of the socio-political world insofar as they
offer a familiar and decipherable code (i.e. language), which is
implanted, engraved, written, inscribed, smeared etc, in and on
material objects and surfaces. The reason this argument might (still)
sound somewhat counterintuitive is due to lingering structural
perceptions, which from Levi Strauss to Geertz and many others as
well, have disregarded the corporeal dimensions of all textual
occurrences, designating them in the highly meaningful yet
intangible realms of myth (Levi Strauss) or metaphor (Geertz). The
reasons for this state of affairs lie beyond the scope of this
chapter, but have to do with structural dichotomies, whereby the
material world is coupled with illiteracy ("pre-literacy"),
while texts and literacy at large are associated with ???

--the
relationships between the fields of automobility and mobility
studies.

Trying
to elucidate the relationship between mobility and automobility is a
tricky endeavor, which I shall try to evade. Starting with negation
rational, it is clear that reductive and structural relationship of
the type that suggests that one of the approaches hierarchically
incorporates the other (i.e. that automobility is a field within
mobility studies or vise versa) does wrong to the intricacy of both
fields as well as to the vibrant relations between them. First and
foremost because (auto)mobility essentially defies disciplinary
boundaries and with them the notion of discipline.

--it
is also too early to be able to comprehensibly discern the
interrelations between these fields, nor does it seem to be something
fruitful to do so at this point in time. Suffice to indicate that
both automobility and mobility studies amount to a paradigmatic shift
in the social sciences, a real qualitative leap, which include
various cutting edge approaches, theorizing and influences, and which
is, to my humble opinion, explosively creative.

I
wish to take up the space provided in this chapter to describe and
discuss two different, yet related illustrations of im/mobilities
within the realm of automobility. These illustrations are
conceptualized as textual performances that are mobilized
(double meaning intended) within and as part of the dialectics of
mobilities and immobilities of the vast realms of automobility. The
first type of performance to which I shall attend concerns political
bumper stickers (BSs), which are pervasively visible on road in
Israel and which have been researched and discussed in literature
about public space and politics in Israeli society. The second type
of performance of textual auto(im)mobilities, concerns personal
monuments that were erected in the memory of dear ones who have been
killed in car accidents.

--This
is admittedly not the first occasion I write on the topic of
im/mobile discourse or more specifically textual im/mobilities.
Earlier research probed commemorative visitor books, that is visitor
books that are locate in highly symbolic commemorative sites,
conceptualizing these books as a medium that is located within a
matrix of mobilities . In another work, I researched spoken (rather
than inscribed) discourse, as it transpires in and is organically
part of the activities of driving a car and riding inside one (Noy,
forthcoming).

General
background on BSs in Israel

--The
definition I should have given before – here is a description
of the phenomena: a word about BS in general and research beoyund
Israel ()Bs. In this chapter I refer specifically to political
BSs, whereby I refer to stickers that make claims that are commonly
understood as occurrences of explicit political discourse. I mention
this because the external surfaces of cars can and do carry variety
of textual and iconic signs,

In
Israeli (automobile) political culture, BSs are a celebrated
phenomena, which has received popular attention and debate, and
consequently has also been researched (Bloch, in Peri, 2000??,
discourse). The first and foremost research for this state of affairs
concerns the sheer quantity of BSs in Israel. According to findings
reported be Hagar Salamon () and Rene?? , anywhere between 33% and
80%(!) of the cars in Israel carry political BSs. The variation in
the findings may result from difference in the periods when the
samples were taken, because on particular heighted political times,
such as elections, wars and other public events, there is clearly a
rise in the percentages of BSs, as well as in relation to highly
political and politisized spaces and populations (such as the case in
West Jerusalem), versus townscapes and populations with lower
political involvement. However, even the lower end of the continuum
clearly indicates a high percentage of BSs on "regular"
basis, and that these percentages refer to political BSs defined
narrowly, or to BS that explicitly use/refer to political discourse.

suggesting
that the medium of BSs is ??.

The use of political bumper stickers has its origins in the late
1970s, most probably with the (mythological) "Peace Now"
BS, which was put out by the Leftist
political movement by the same name (in Hebrew: Shalom Achshav).
As an aside, it is worthwhile noting that using cars as surfaces for
expression of political ideas and identities required that the
members of the ideological movement would own private cars in high
percentages. In the 1970s, owing private cars was not commonplace or
trivial in Israel as it is perhaps today, and the use of BSs on
private cars had therefore also a socioeconomical correlation.
Although this correlation was meaningful, and indeed confirmed that
fact that members of the Leftist Shalom Achshav Movement were
of the more affluent and elitist quarters of the Israeli society, the
meaning it carried was implicit.???

Note
the similarities and differences between these two occurrences of
discursive im/mobilities within automobility. First and foremost,

BS
set in motion

In
what follows I wish to take a participant's perspective on BS, which
would be only natural considering the fact that I am a native in and
to the twofold relevant cultural spheres: the "Israeli culture,"
on the one hand, and the "automobile culture," on the
other. In this vein, the research reported here is inspired by
ethnomethodology, as it tries to uncover the unobtrusive practices of
making meaning in everyday life . Ethnomethodological inspired
research has

And
has already been employed fruitfully to car-driving and related
activities within the realm of automobility .

אין
שמאלנין אין
פיגועים – אין
ערבים אין פיגועים,
שחנה מתחת
לבית שלי, והיווה
קריאה לא כל-כך
מרומזת לחיסול
ה"שמאלנים".

--יכול
להיות שכדאי
להתחיל ברקע
כללי וקצר יחסית
על שתי התפעות,
ואז לעבור
לתיאור יותר
אתנוגרארפי
ואנתומתודלוכי,
ואז בדיון,
לדבר על מה
דומה בו]פעות
הללו.

התופעה

General
background on traffic accident memorials in Israel

Discussion

Conclusions