2010 - Car Culture and the Road 1: The Road as Cultural Marker of American Identity

This panel investigates the contradictory role of the Road in defining American culture.  Not only is the road a metaphor for fluidity in terms of flight, escape, and self-discovery, but it is also a metaphor for the concept of place.  Road travel is related to notions of the Search for America, and the American Dream, both of which are fluid constructs that shift both individual and national definitons of Self.  Along these searches, one encounters the stationary building: gas, food, lodging.  These spaces, although static, also shed light on notions of identiy formation as they are manipulated by the uses, and perhaps misuses, of those characters that come into contact with them.  The presentations in this panel bring these concepts alive by exploring literary works on the road, broadcast and music programs, and roadside buildings.