T2M - Cosmobilities 2015: How fast must we go? Speed in transport, speed in life

Those of you who attended the T2M conference at Philadelphia in 2014 might recall that Jim Cohen, Peter Lyth and Robin Kellermann presented a well-attended session on The Dialectics of Speed, Slowness and Waiting. Jim and Peter want to take the theme of speed a step further, in fact two steps further: first, we are planning a panel on speed for this year’s T2M Caserta meeting; and, second, we intend to publish an international and interdisciplinary English-language edited collection on speed in history and in modern times, across transport modes. 

Early moves towards getting a suitable publisher are promising. Thus, we are looking for contributing scholars, both historians and others with an interest in themes involving speed in society (is speed intrinsic to modernity?); in the economy (capitalist or otherwise); in transport (any mode); in culture (for example, Kern’s The Culture of Time and Space, 1880-1918 ); or in life generally (do we go too fast for own good?). Our first thoughts on the collection suggest contributions on issues including, but not limited to the following: was the Concorde as fast as we will ever fly? Was the Titanic sailing too fast? Why do we still build fast cars? Will high-speed trains save the planet? We are open to contributions from a broad range of disciplinary traditions and methodological approaches. 

If you are interested in contributing to either our proposed T2M Caserta panel on speed, or to the edited collection, or both, please send us specific proposals that we will consider and discuss with you. In addition, kindly distribute this message to any colleagues you know who are working on speed-related research, and ask them to get in touch with us if they are interested in either the Caserta panel or the edited collection.

Jim Cohen , New York, USA.                                                 jcohen@jjay.cuny.edu

PeterLyth , Nottingham, UK.                                                    peterlyth@aol.com