The volume compares physical mobility in childhood and old age. Autonomy is also a question of ‘automobility’ here: those who cannot walk independently are dependent on others. Mobility thus becomes a social practice. He examines this ‘heteromobility’ ethnographically: he walks with and talks to those who move themselves and others. He asks how heteromobility is experienced and evaluated in both phases of life. Why do we find the dependence of small children cute, but that of older people tragic? What role do care, help, power and violence play in caring relationships? Do we also turn people into ‘children’ and ‘old people’ through the way we transport them? And: are we ever really independent?
