[ecrea] On time. Temporal & Normative Orderings of Mobilities - CfP

*Call for Papers*
*Workshop: On time. Temporal and normative ordering of mobilities*
*University of Siegen, Germany | September 13–14, 2018*
*
*
*with lectures by MONIKA BÜSCHER (Lancaster), ROB KITCHIN (Maynooth), 
SVEN OPITZ (Marburg)*
*
*
*More info*: http://blogs.uni-siegen.de/on-time/
*Organizers: *Claudio Coletta (Antwerp), Jörg Potthast (Siegen), Tobias 
Röhl (Siegen), Susann Wagenknecht (Siegen)


Temporality and normativity are interwoven with one another: Timings 
convey norms and norma-tive shifts. Rhythms enforce forms of life, 
convey-ing rules and principles. Flows of time fit experi-ence and 
expectation to one another producing specific versions of past, present 
and future. The end of time conjures up both utopian and dysto-pian visions.

Yet, while the plurality of normative orders has emerged as a crucial 
issue of social theory (Boltanski & Thévenot, 1999), its temporal 
dy-namics have received little attention so far. And while the 
accelerating dynamics of time (Rosa, 2015; Simmel, 1903; Benjamin, 1999; 
Virilio, 1997; Wajcman & Dodd, 2017) as well as the plurality of 
temporal orders have been recog-nized (Lefebvre, 2004), implications for 
theoriz-ing normative orders remain unclear. In social theory, time has 
been addressed as a social ordering principle  (Zerubavel, 1982) 
emphasiz-ing the symbolic dimension and the normative aspects of social 
regularities. Especially with industrialization processes (Adam, 2004) 
clock time has been naturalized as commodified, com-pressed, colonized 
and controlled resource which regulates social relations. Normativity, 
on the other hand, is typically understood through spa-tial and static 
imagery, in terms of already given normative “spheres,” “reach” and 
“binding force.” The normativity of time, in turn, is com-monly 
backgrounded and kept “still” as a rather unproblematic, uncontested 
convention guarded by technology. By temporalizing phenomena—e.g. 
systems of gift exchange (Bourdieu, 1977)—a praxeological perspective 
questions such static views on normative orders and shows how issues of 
timing are integral to social practices.

To discuss the nexus of temporal and normative orders in empirical 
detail and with ethnographic sensibility, we propose to focus on various 
forms of (traffic and transport) mobility. With real-timing, punctuality 
and synchronization as its crucial requirements, mobility brings the 
plurality of temporal orders to the fore. Traffic and transport 
mobilities rely on and create rhythms as “active producers of realities” 
(Revill, 2013). Furthermore, mobile practices perform hybrid public 
spaces where the plurality of temporal and normative orders becomes 
especially palpable. In these spaces temporal and normative orders are 
automated, technically embedded and mobi-lized—increasingly through 
software and code (Kitchin and Dodge, 2011; Kitchin, in press). 
Consequently, being mobile and/or mobilizing others makes the plurality 
of normative and tem-poral orders an issue: distant spheres have to be 
linked, gaps to be bridged, connections forged, groups coordinated, 
timelines met, processes aligned etc.

Through the study of traffic and transport mobili-ties we direct 
attention to the intricate relations that multiple temporal and 
normative orders unfold in practice. Temporal and normative or-ders 
overlap and interfere; they support and challenge one another.  We seek 
to develop both a normative notion of time as well as a dynamic notion 
of normativity: temporality as a fundamen-tal normative issue, 
normativity as a temporal phenomenon through and through. In so doing, 
we aim to reconcile a praxeological account (so-cial order as practical 
accomplishment) with normative notions of sociality (social order as 
moral order)—a notion present in proto-praxeological social theory (most 
prominently, ethnomethodology and interactionism) but ab-sent in most 
theorizing thereafter, only gaining weight again in current theorizing. 
With this theo-retical interest in traffic and transport mobilities, we 
propose to expand on recent mobility studies (e.g. Büscher, Urry, & 
Witchger, 2010; Cresswell, 2006; Krämer & Schindler, 2016; Jensen, 2015; 
Urry, 2007), for which theoretical and empirical issues are always 
intertwined.

To explore the nexus of temporal and normative orders, we invite papers 
that deal empirically and/or conceptually with the relation of 
norma-tive and temporal orders in the field of mobilities. Possible 
questions include:

Punctuality: Why is punctuality a norm frequently encountered when 
dealing with organized traffic and transport? Why is it still upheld 
despite trains, flights, ferries, cars, and busses often being late? How 
are different forms of mobilities linked to punctuality? What does it 
mean to be punctual when driving by car or travelling by plane?

Real-timeness, synchronization, anticipation, prediction/prioritization: 
How do different forms of temporality occur? How are they arranged and 
organized?

Rhythm and flow: When is rhythm enforced (rhythm as enforced 
discipline), when does it become a flow (rhythm as a skillful way of 
han-dling time)? Which forms of eurhythmia, arrhyth-mia and polyrhythmia 
take place? Through what kind of infrastructures?

Experience: How do experiences of time develop a normative force when we 
are mobile?

Control: How is the plurality of normative and temporal orders in 
transport and traffic moni-tored and regulated? How are temporal gaps 
and normative splits managed in practice?

Conflict and competing demands of time: When can issues of timing in 
traffic and transport help settle conflicts, when do they generate and 
am-plify conflict? How do they interfere?

Breakdown of orders: How to keep on track when rhythms fall apart and 
time estimates become obsolete? What are temporal and normative orders 
of breakdown and catastrophe?

Scaling: How are norms of traffic uphold over longer periods of time? 
How do actors scale their actions so that norms become relatively 
durable? What are the different scales that can be identi-fied when 
talking about the temporality and nor-mativity of traffic?

If you are interested in presenting a paper, please send an abstract 
(max. 300 words) to (on_time /at/ uni-siegen.de) 
<mailto:(on_time /at/ uni-siegen.de)> until 15th of February 2018.

To facilitate discussions during the workshop participants will be asked 
to hand in short papers (approx. 3,000–4,000 words) no later than 15th 
 of July 2018.

Non-tenured researchers attending the workshop may apply for a refund of 
their travel and ac-comodation costs!

*Important dates*
Feb 15, 2018 - deadline for submission of abstracts (max. 300 words)
Mar 23, 2018 - notification of acceptance
Jul 15, 2018 - deadline for submission of short exploratory papers 
(3,000–4,000 words)
Sep 13–14, 2018 - workshop

http://blogs.uni-siegen.de/on-time/

*References*
Adam, B. (2004). Time, Cambridge, Polity Press.
Benjamin, W. (1999). The Arcades Project, Cam-bridge, MA: The Belknap 
Press of Har-vard University Press.
Boltanski, L., & Thévenot, L. (1999). The Sociolo-gy of Critical 
Capacity. European Journal of Social Theory, 2(3), 359–377.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Prac-tice, Cambridge, 
Cambridge University Press.
Büscher, M., Urry, J., & Witchger, K. (Eds.) (2010). Mobile Methods. 
London/New York: Routledge.
Cresswell, T. (2006). On the Move: Mobility in the Modern Western World. 
London/New York: Routledge.
Kitchin, R. (in press) The Realtimeness of Smart Cities. Tecnoscienza, 8(2).
Kitchin, R. and Dodge, M. (2011). Code/Space: Software and Everyday 
Life, Cambridge, MIT Press.
Jensen, O. B. (2015). Mobilities. London/New York: Routledge.
Krämer, H., & Schindler, L. (Eds.) (2016). Mobil-tät (Special Issue of 
the Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie 41(1)) Wiesba-den: 
Springer VS.
Lefebvre, H. (2004). Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life. 
London/New York: Continnuum.
Revill, G. (2013). Points of Departure: Listening to Rhythm in the 
Sonoric Spaces of the Railway Station. The Sociological Re-view, 61 
(S1), 51–68.
Rosa, H. (2015). Social Acceleration. New York: New York University Press.
Simmel, G. (1971). The Metropolis and Mental life. In Donald Levine 
(Ed.), Simmel: On Individuality and Social Forms (p. 324). Chicago: 
Chicago University Press.
Urry, J. (2007). Mobilities. Cambridge: Polity.
Virilio, P. (1997). Open Sky, London, Verso.
Wajcman, J., & Dodd, N. (Eds.) (2017). The Sociology of Speed: Digital, 
Organiza-tional, and Social Temporalities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zerubavel, E. (1982). The Standardization of Time: A Sociohistorical 
Perspective. American Journal of Sociology, 88(1), 1–23.


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