Heterotopia of the road: driving and drifting in Siberia

• Published in: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
• Main Author: Argounova‐Low, Tatiana
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: Yakutsk; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13423; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1467-9655.13423; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/1467-9655.13423

Abstract The article demonstrates how development of the car cultures in the city of Yakutsk, northeastern Russia, is facilitated by the proximity of Japan, where street racing and drift driving became popular through such outlets as the manga series, animation films, YouTube, and a blockbuster film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift . These influences, which arrived in Siberia from across the Sea of Japan and Hollywood, highlight the shifting geographies and multiple cultural entanglements of the technological advancements in the global space. Through these cultural engagements, young people in the city establish a different perception of the road, endowing it with heterotopic qualities. The article explores the heterotopia of the road in anthropology.