Speaker
Description
The first comparative study of the 1890s Bicycle Boom in Ukrainian lands, at that point part
of the Habsburg and Romanov Empires, introduces a world of bicycle producers, retailers,
advocators, consumers and riders. It focuses on local agency in adopting Western
technologies. A comparison of bicycle clubs in Ukrainian lands of the two empires illustrates
how distinct imperial ethnic, social and gender politics influenced the social construction of
bicycle use. The article presents a scenario of technological progress in which local
enthusiasts were key drivers of innovation, while the states responded with regulatory
measures rather than commissioned technological change. Although Eastern Europe was late
in launching its own bicycle mass-production, the cultural phenomenon of the 1890s Bicycle
Boom, with its enthusiasm, public debate and new standards of bodily performance, took
place at the same time as in bicycle-producing Western societies.
Biography
Olha Martynyuk is a Historian of Technologies and Mobility, with a geographical focus on
modern Eastern Europe. Her current book project is "Bicycle Mobility in Ukraine 1890-
1990." She has previously co-edited a volume "Living in a Modern City: Kyiv of the Late
XIX - Mid XX cent.", curated an exhibition "Veloboom 1890s," and assisted prof. Kate
Brown on writing "Manual for Survival: Environmental History of Chernobyl." In 2023 she
has given a course "Transport Mobility in Eastern Europe: Political Designs and Lived
Experiences (mid XIX - XX Century)" at the University of Basel. Apart from this she has
been teaching various courses in Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, University of Zürich,
and Free Ukrainian University (Munich).
