ABSTRACT

This paper focuses on an under-studied aspect of contemporary urban life through the experience of working horses and horse cart drivers as they negotiate mobility and livelihoods on the streets on Cape Town. By adopting an ethnographic approach including embedded participant observation, the paper provides insights to the everyday mobility of urban working animals, their human counterparts and their unique ‘humanimal’ assemblage. Results trace daily routes of travel, while providing a deeper understanding of the mobility challenges of horse carts. Ethnographic data reveal how horse cart riders depend on this form of mobility as a primary source of income which the riders use to provide for their daily needs and expenses. At the same time, this study sheds light on the elements that govern the daily mobility of horse carts including motive force, velocity, rhythm, route, experience and friction. This study fills a critical gap in research on urban animals and mobility in African cities, with findings that lend appreciation to the daily activity and travels from home and the road and their inherent knowledge of the city.

摘要

本文通过在开普敦的街道上讨论机动性和生计的工作马和马车司机的经验，着重研究了当代城市生活中未被充分研究的方面。通过采用包括嵌入的参与者观察在内的人种学方法，本文提供了对城市工作动物，其人类对等物及其独特的“人性化”组合日常活动的见解。结果跟踪了日常旅行路线，同时提供了对马车出行挑战的更深入了解。人种学数据显示，马车手如何依靠这种流动性作为收入的主要来源，骑手用来满足他们的日常需求和支出。同时，这项研究揭示了控制马车日常活动的要素，包括动力，速度，节奏，路线，经验和摩擦。这项研究填补了非洲城市中城市动物和流动性研究的一个关键空白，其发现使人们对日常活动以及从家庭和道路出行以及对城市的固有知识表示赞赏。