Volume 6, Issue 1: Spring 2010
The First International Journal of Motorcycle Studies Conference
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
June 3-6, 2010
An international group of
scholars and motorcyclists—not to mention scholar-motorcyclists—descended
on the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs for the first International Journal of Motorcycle Studies conference, June 3-6, 2010. Participants
from the U.S., Canada, England, Ireland, Italy, Romania, New Zealand and India
met to offer fresh perspectives on motorcycles, motorcyclists and
motorcycling.
Motorcycle photographer
Michael Lichter twisted the throttle on the conference with an opening night exhibition
on Thursday. He showed examples of
his work from his early career in the 1970s to the present and discussed the
changes in photography and motorcycling he has witnessed in his 30-year career.
In their presentations on
Friday and Saturday, conference participants discussed the future of
motorcycling and motorcycle design. David Braun and Eryl Price-Davies highlighted the rise of adventure motorcycling
as a manufacturing niche and, as Davies added, a lucrative enterprise for
travel companies, as well as the writers who publish accounts of their
adventures. Jeff Morrison
investigated the humor particular to British motorcycle travelogues, in
particular. Sushil Chandra linked the meanings Indian riders attach to motorcycles to
visual and technical design attributes, while Amitoj Singh explored the
significance of emotions in the styling of motorbikes within the social culture
of biking in India. Geoff Crowther
discussed the challenges of creating sustainable motorcycles and motorcycling
practices for the future and Christian Pierce assessed the history and current
state of alternative fuel motorcycles.
Several presenters touched
on the often fraught intersection of motorcycling and
the law. Charles Lamb offered fresh
research to challenge the New Zealand government’s policy regarding
motorcyclist culpability in mulit-vehicle accidents, research that has
implications for policy makers—and riders—worldwide. The difficulties in registering the
Dykes on Bikes® trademark were the focus of presentations by Alex Ilyasova, as
well as members of the group itself, including past president Vick Germany and filmmaker
Sheila Malone, who screened a short documentary feature about the group.
The place of women in
motorcycle culture was the subject of several other presentations. Elissa
Auther and Gillian Silvermann presented information about their innovative
Feminism&Co project at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, highlighting
one program that used motorcycling to raise issues related to women and gender. Steven Alford surveyed responses to
women and technology, while Suzanne Ferriss considered historical and
contemporary reactions to the enhanced mobility that both the bicycle and then motorcycle
offered to women. Physical
liberation on two-wheels, they contended, provokes sexual associations for both
men and women.
A number of presentations
on motorcycles in cinema highlighted such sexual associations, as well. Marina Cianferoni offered rich examples from early European cinema to challenge the dominant
perception of biker films as a specifically American creation. Tom Goodmann offered an innovative
reading of one contemporary film, Wild
Hogs, focusing on its anxieties about homosexuality.
Philosophers considered
the human-machine interface: Kermit Harrison explained how learning to ride a
motorcycle (including falling off at speed) can be used as a metaphor for what Kierkegaard would call a leap of Faith. Chioke I'Anson
argued that mind, body and motorcycle merge into a seamless unity at the peak
of motorcycle performance. Gabriel
Jderu encouraged us to consider motorcycling as a social career, while Lisa
Garber presented her daily commute as a profoundly individual meditation on
life.
Historians traced a number
of motorcycle-related developments. Steve Koerner reflected on the
British motorcycle industry and Costantino Frontalini surveyed the development of the sidecar. Christopher Thrasher discussed the
impact of cultural influences on the formation of “outlaw” motorcycle culture,
while Gary Kieffner outlined a project for studying the relationship between “outlaw”
culture and the FX television series Sons
of Anarchy. Caryn Simonson
explored a different order of visual production associated with
motorcycling. She displayed images
of motorcycles she had “chintzed”: bikes that she had decorated with fabric
coverings and then posed as props for portraits with real—and fake—riders.
As even this brief summary
indicates, the range of approaches to motorcycling was impressive and the
arguments provocative. Participants attending the conference—presenters and audience
members from the local community—discussed their shared passion with great intensity during conference sessions and, less
formally, over drinks and dinner in the evening. They even rode together through the Colorado mountains—to visit Bishop’s Castle and Cripple
Creek. In the words of one
participant, it was “motorcycle heaven.”
If you’d like to
experience your own slice of heaven, consider attending the next conference in
Colorado Springs in summer 2012. Watch the IJMS website for announcements.
Click HERE to download a copy of the complete
conference program.
The journal thanks Conference Coordinators
Alex Ilyasova and Lisa Garber for their hard work!
Images and text copyright © International Journal of Motorcycle Studies