Acceleration Nation: An Investigation into the Violence of Speed and the Uses of Accidents in Iceland

Authors: Árnason, Arnar; Hafsteinsson, Sigurjón Baldur; Grétarsdóttir, Tinna

Source: Culture, Theory and Critique, Volume 48, Number 2, October 2007 , pp. 199-217(19)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

There are two starting points from which this paper is constructed: first, Virilio's observation that the wealth of societies is founded on their dromocratic condition, that the faster societies accelerate their citizens, commercial goods and communication the more political and economic power they have and, second, the links that he traces between technologies of speed and acceleration and the accident. We suggest that Virilio's ideas on this invite and deserve a closer ethnographic scrutiny than they have so far received, scrutiny that highlights the varied ways in which speed, acceleration and the accident are articulated in different cultural contexts. To this end we offer an investigation into the dromocratic condition, the violence of speed and the uses of accidents in Iceland.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735780701723314

Publication date: 2007-10-01

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