Mobilities and complexities. Ole B.Jensen, SvenKesselring and MimiSheller (eds). Routledge, London and New York, 2019. ISBN 978‐1‐138‐60143‐7

Abstract

Using renowned sociologist John Urry's body of work, specifically the 'mobilities turn' as a fertile threshold point, Jensen, Kesselring, and Sheller have brought together a range of social scientists who have worked and collaborated closely with Urry, in creating this edited collection. This book is organised in five thematic sections and the authors in each of these sections speak to each other well in terms of the ways in which they document their personal encounters with the sociologist and reflect on the potentials of Urry's work in a posthuman world. This collection braids in a range of approaches – from personal anecdotes and intimate encounters that transformed into newer perspectives to speculative reflections on interactions with Urry and his work, thus, celebrating a complex array of ideas. Yet, the book remains faithful to the politics that ground Urry's methodological approach. As Thomas Birtchnell notes, in speculating: 'Will there be an Urryism?', in Chapter 3, he concludes that 'Urry's penchant for plurality does not come at the expense of clarity' (p. 16). The same can be said of the experience of reading this edited collection.