Volume 13 | 2017

Mixed Gender-Cross Country Research: Personal Reflections and Experiences of Long-Term Ethnographic Researchers in a Community of Touring Motorcyclists

Mark Austin & Patricia Gagné

Long-term ethnographic research is commonly conducted by a single investigator, a same-gender team, or a mixed-gender team of married or partnered individuals. The impact of gender in conducting qualitative research has been examined in the literature but little, if any, analysis of the experiences of a mixed gender, non-coupled, unrelated research team exists. Our goal in this article is to consider some of the benefits and pitfalls ...

You Gotta Be Dirty: The Outlaws Motorcycle Club In & Around Wisconsin

Book Review By David Walton

Michael Grogan's book, You Gotta Be Dirty: The Outlaws Motorcycle Club In & Around Wisconsin (2016) landed on my desk a few weeks back—and I'm glad it did. As the title suggests, it focuses on the Outlaws Motorcycle Club (MC) and adds another chapter to our historical understanding of the 1%er outlaw motorcycle clubs. In this review I'll offer some brief contextualization, give an outline of its aims and contents ...

Harley Culture from the Outside: Cowboys, Guns and Patriotism

Misao Dean

Who wouldn't want a Harley? The brand is so ubiquitous in popular culture that the word "Harley" has become for many a loose synonym for any cruiser-style motorcycle. And the history of Harley-Davidson riders seems, in North America at least, identical with the history of motorcycle as a cultural icon: its success as a Second World War vehicle, promoted through war propaganda films …

Talking Back: Bikers’ Mediated Self-Representation

Unn Conradi Andersen & Arne H. Krumsvik

In this article, we analyze the mediated self-representation of Norwegian bikers in contrast to how they are represented through mainstream-media. Based on analysis of MC coverage in local, regional, and national Norwegian newspapers and postings and comments on the Facebook page of PayBack Norway, we compare an online counterpublic with coverage in mainstream media ...

The Motorcyclist

Book Review By James B. Gould

Carl, a young black man, a motorcyclist, artist and womanizer, is caught between the expectations of his times and the possibilities of life. He is trapped in a railway worker’s pedestrian existence—a life from which his motorcycle (a BMW R69 named ‘Liz II’ in honor of Queen Elizabeth II), the open road and, most notably, his sexual exploits with numerous women, both black and white, provide freedom and happiness ...

Bikies and Civil Rights: Legal Activism, Police States and Liberties in Australia

Binoy Kampmark

“Every criminologist I know agrees that legislation is not the way to go. The answer is for the police to do their job and seize members of clubs threatening war and do not allow the clubs to reform until they can prove that they have purged the criminal elements and found effective measures for conflict resolution–apart from war.” The words of American motorbike enthusiast Arthur Veno, a student and specialist of motorbike culture …

A Curious Case of Anglo-Japanese Collaboration: How the World’s Most Successful Motorcycle Maker Borrowed Design Ideas from a Small, Venerable, and Extinct British Bike Factory [1]

James J. Ward

I first laid eyes on one in 1996 or 1997 in an unlikely setting, at the AMA-sanctioned Freemansburg Hill Climb which takes place twice each year near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tired of watching nitro-fueled hanger-framed machines trying to hurdle their way up a 500-foot incline, gouged with ruts and gulleys and lined by rocks and trees, I wandered into one of the fields used for spectators’ parking. A thousand or two bikes, most of them Harleys …

Introduction

Sheila A. Malone

2016_6th_ijms_conference_placeholder2016 has brought multiple changes to the journal. I would like to thank Christian Pierce for leading the way by taking the baton from Suzanne Ferris and Steven Alford. Christian was at the helm of the journal for the past two years, steering the ship forward through sometimes familiar waters, and other times, new and unchartered territory. The ship analogy is being employed here, because, unlike a motorcycle–and the solo journey…

7th International Journal of Motorcycle Studies Conference
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
22-24 June, 2017

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION AND LODGING DETAILS
The 7th INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOTORCYCLE STUDIES CONFERENCE will take place at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, 22–24 June, 2017. For registration information, please visit this link: https://www.regonline.com/7thIJMSconference

The conference will feature presentations and discussions on some of the following topics:

  • The motorcycle or riding in film, photography, literature, art and music
  • The motorcycle as a design object or explored through art
  • Motorcycle clothing/fashion/textiles and materials
  • Advertising/marketing of motorcycles, gear and motorcycle culture
  • Media representations of motorcycling
  • Motorcycle technology/design/engineering
  • Motorcycling and sustainability
  • Motorcycling, craftsmanship, collection and customization
  • Motorcycle racing
  • Motorcycle history in relation to design and visual culture
  • The role of place/environment in motorcycling
  • Motorcycling and issues of safety and risk
  • Motorcycling and race, class, ethnicity, sexuality or gender
  • The psychology of the motorcycle, the motorcyclist and the ride
  • Motorcycle travel/tourism
  • Motorcycle rights and politics
  • The commodification of motorcycles, motorcycling and/or motorcyclists
  • Other philosophical, literary, anthropological, geographical, historical, sociological, political, economic/business or psychological perspectives of motorcycling culture

Attendees and presenters may be interested in attending the historical 101st Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb (PPIHC) after the conference on Sunday, June 25th, 2017.

We look forward to seeing you in June. If you have questions about the upcoming conference please contact us at IJMS.

Warm Regards,

Sheila A. Malone, PhD
Managing Editor, IJMS

04.04.17