ABSTRACT
The role of the bicycle in Africa is inextricably intertwined with the paradoxes of modernity, with the violence of colonialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and with the enduring creativity of local societies, in Africa and elsewhere. The history of bicycle usage in Africa reveals the obstacles that existed on this continent to develop culture and society and to find its own place in the dynamics of modernity and progress. Contexts of the bicycle ranged from its marginal position as a particular kind of sports equipment, to its status as a symbol of the working class, to its consideration as an obstacle for motor vehicles in the period of growing automobility in cities. More recently, bicycles have been promoted as life-saving devices, when used as ambulances. The appreciation of the bicycle is therefore based on the possibility of adapting this device to a multitude of purposes.
