From mobility to motility – Changes in Baka mobilities and sociality in north-eastern Gabon

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of motility, the capacity to be
mobile, as a more in-depth way to account for changes in forager mobility and social
organization. Research with Baka foragers in north-eastern Gabon shows how they
are shifting their subsistence livelihoods by taking up artisanal gold mining, and an
extended theoretical approach is called for to give greater acknowledgement to
resulting social challenges and changes in these communities. The predominant focus
in both archaeological and anthropological discussions has been on observable facts
of resource-oriented mobility and human–environment interaction. Motility adds to the
understanding of diversified mobilities by focusing not only on actualized observable
mobility, but by also considering the choices and limitations, which precede movement.
The notion of mobility capital is here introduced to evidence how changing individual
and group mobilities challenge Baka egalitarian social organization.

• LRQ17
• LRQ19

Resources

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286478260_From_mobility_to_motility

Bibliography

Weig, D. (2015): From mobility to motility – Changes in Baka mobilities and sociality in north-eastern Gabon. – In: Hunter Gatherer Research, DOI: doi:10.3828/hgr.2015.22