ABSTRACT

Motorcycle taxis in Guatemala City are a form of transportation in which the customer pays to ride as the pillion. For a modest amount of money, Guatemalans can avoid road traffic by riding in between idling cars. Clients and drivers alike call this maneuver “eating traffic.” The colloquialism captures a reversal in which commuters dominate traffic rather than traffic dominating them. This article, in response, assesses ethnographically the affective terrain of traffic in Guatemala City. Of interest is how eating traffic opens a window into the city as a field of emotions characterized by a constant, deeply felt desire to flee, to escape – to be anywhere but here.

摘要

危地马拉城的摩托车出租车是一种交通方式，客户付费乘坐作为后座。危地马拉人只需花一点钱，就可以通过在空转的汽车之间骑行来避免道路交通。客户和司机都称这种做法为“吃交通”。俗语捕捉到了一种逆转，即通勤者主导交通，而不是交通主导他们。作为回应，本文从民族志上评估危地马拉城交通的情感地形。有趣的是，吃饭的交通如何打开了一扇通往城市的窗户，作为一个情感领域，其特征是一种持续的、深切的逃离、逃离的渴望——除了这里之外的任何地方。