About

Steven Alford completed his graduate work in Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He teaches at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. With Suzanne Ferriss, he is the author of Motorcycle (Reaktion Books, London, 2008). He rides a Triumph Sprint ST.

Mark Austin is a professor of sociology at the University of Louisville and serves on the program faculty of the Urban and Public Affairs PhD program. While much of his past research has focused on geographically stable communities, in more recent work he has examined issues related to geographically mobile communities with some of his research dealing with community, historical, and subcultural issues involving motorcyclists in American culture. His garage is cluttered with a Honda, a Moto Guzzi, and various BMWs. They are in a variety of conditions of functionality and disrepair.

Ted Bishop rides a Ducati and teaches English at the University of Alberta, Canada. He has published articles on James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, written motorcycling articles for Rider magazine and Cycle Canada. He is the author of Riding with Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles and Books (Penguin Canada/Norton USA) which Playboy listed as a ‘Best Book’ for 2006. But they didn’t invite him to pose.

Michael J. Chappell is an associate professor in the English Department at Western Connecticut State University. A rider since 1970, he currently pilots a red 1999 BMW R1100S.

Suzanne Ferriss is a professor of English at Nova Southeastern University. Her publications include two volumes on the cultural study of fashion, A Handbook of Literary Feminisms, and two edited collections on chick lit and chick flicks. With Steven Alford, she is the author of Motorcycle (Reaktion Books, London, 2008). She currently rides a 2005 Yamaha FZ1.

Tim Fransen See Web Designer / Developer Profile

Timothy Holmes is a lecturer in the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, Wales, specialising in the historical and cultural aspects of magazine journalism. He spent 15 years as a journalist and editor on a range of motorcycling titles in the UK, the final one his own publication. He shares a Triumph T140V with his wife and pours cash into a hole called “restoration of a 1960 Trophy 650.”

Gary L. Kieffner is a consultant in contemporary world history and postgraduate studies. His fields of specialization are in histories of Oceania, the USA, world borderlands and frontiers, transnational material culture, feminist and indigenist methodologies. He rides a gold Goldwing in the Américas and a green Yinhe in the Pacific Islands.

Randy D. McBee is an associate professor of history at Texas Tech University where he teaches courses in recent U.S. history and U.S. immigration and urban history. He is the author of Dance Hall Days: Intimacy and Leisure Among Working Class Immigrants in the United States (New York University Press, 2000) and is currently writing a history of the motorcyclist/biker since the end of World War II.

Christian A. Pierce currently lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia where he is pursuing a PhD in History at Georgia Tech while employed by Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. The purchase of his first motorcycle coincided with his entrance into graduate school and the two events soon became intertwined. While studying Film and Television at Emory University he began an analysis of biker movies that has continued to this day. His study has dealt with a vast array of subjects/themes from stunting videos to the demise of Buell Motorcycles. Of late, he has been intrigued by the portrayal of motorcycling as a sport and the infrequent representation of this subject in popular culture. He rides a 2002 Suzuki Bandit 1200, a 2005 Suzuki DRZ400SM, and a 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 650R.

Caryn Simonson is Course Leader for BA (Hons) Textile Design at the University of the Arts London (Chelsea College of Art and Design). She organized the 3rd IJMS conference in London (2013) and co‑curated the accompanying exhibition Motorcycle Cultures: fashioning bikes, building identities. She teaches across theory and practice and is a member of the Textile Environment Design (TED) and Textile Futures Research Centre groups (TFRC) at the university. As an artist and curator, she has presented work across photography, video, sculpture, installation and writing. She has previously co‑curated exhibitions including Textile Transporter at arttransponder Gallery, Berlin and an exhibition of TFRC members’ work in the 3D digital online social networking environment Second Life. In 2008 she guest‑edited a special themed issue—Skin and Cloth—for Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture (Berg, 2008); she also serves on the journal’s International Advisory Editorial Board. Caryn rides a 2005 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 and a 1983 Moto Morini 3.5 Strada.

Katherine Sutherland is Associate Vice President Academic at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada, where she created a course called “Motorcycles, Speed and Literature.” Her primary areas of research and publication are postcolonial and women’s studies, as well as sports culture. She has published scholarly and popular articles on hockey, soccer and motorcycling, in publications such as Cycle Canada and English Studies in Canada.

James J. Ward is Professor of History and Director of the Honors Program at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His degrees are from Middlebury College and New York University. His enthusiasm for British motorcycles began when he over-wintered in a fraternity house room with a DBD34 Gold Star and became permanent with the subsequent acquisition of a Velocette Thruxton (in the days when British singles were being given away). Both, alas, are long gone, but the affection remains.

Sheila Malone researches the intersections of gender, technology, performance and motorcycles. Dr. Malone oversees the Technical Theatre Program at Chaffey College where she is a Professor of Theatre Arts. She received a PhD in Performance Studies and Theatre History from UCLA, and received an MFA in Digital Media Arts from CADRE Laboratory for New Media at San Jose State University. She is an emeritus member of San Francisco Dykes on Bikes®, a former member of the board of directors, and a patch holder. Her films San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® and Annie Sprinkle’s Amazing World of Orgasm have screened all over the world. She rides a Moto Guzzi, and keeps an old sportster as well as a Ural Gear Up in her stable.

Reviews Editor

TBC

Submissions Editor

John Sumser is a sociologist and the Director of an accelerated degree program for working adults at California State University, Stanislaus. His main ride is a Triumph Speed Twin, but he also has a Harley-Davidson Low Rider and a Vespa 250GT. He needs one more motorcycle but is not sure which – perhaps a Moto Guzzi Mondello or an older Triumph Speed Triple.

Web Designer / Developer

Tim Fransen is a Graphic Designer. He runs a motorcycle travel book publishers called Essex‑Dakar Books and an interactive timeline charting the history of motorcycle travel literature for the IJMS (check out the Resources page). With Steven Alford and Suzanne Ferriss, he has produced An Anthology Of Early British Motorcycle Travel Literature (Essex-Dakar Books, 2009) and is working on another book about one of his motorcycle adventures. He currently rides a 2011 Brompton folding bicycle.

Conference Coordinators

Lisa Garber is a psychologist, social worker and author with a doctorate in clinical psychology. She has been treating eating disorders and other forms of psychic distress for 30 years. For the last 24 years she had been riding her Harley, while wondering and writing about her attraction to the two‑wheeled predator. Her musings led her to the crossroads where the union of Hermes and Bruhnhilde took place. It is from that perspective that she wrote her doctoral dissertation, Women Who Ride: The Psyche of the Female Motorcyclist, exploring the manifest myth of the female motorcyclist. Dr. Garber has been published in both biker and women’s magazines. Riding Naked, a booklet based on her dissertation is currently available on her website. A book based on her series of conversations, “The Voice Inside my Helmet,” is soon to be released.

K. Alex Ilyasova is an assistant professor in the English department and the director of the professional and technical writing program at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. She came to motorcycle studies by way of popular culture studies and through her interest in the trademark case involving the San Francisco Dykes on Bikes®. She rides a 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan 500.

Caryn Simonson See Editorial Board Profile