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Author Archives: Laleh Khalili
How the (closure of the) Suez Canal changed the world
The segment of my January/February container-ship journey I am most anticipating is passing through the Suez Canal. Here is what Horatio Clare writes about his passage through Suez: Unfinished wars lie under all our horizons. The chart on which Chris plotted our … Continue reading
Posted in infrastructure, Middle East, militaries, political economy, ports, shipping conditions, ships, transport, war
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The Uses of Shipping Containers
There is a deep fascination with shipping containers… The best reading on all of this is of course the classic The Box by Marc Levinson – but recently there are a lot more links. Here are a few more: This piece … Continue reading
Posted in infrastructure, political economy, shipping conditions, transport
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Become a Sea Against Imperialism
Given the centrality of the sea to the work of colonisation and empire, I love this Turkish graffito my friend Pascal photographed in Istanbul: Update: Pascal’s friend says this Deniz is Deniz Gezmiz… Good pun, in that case!
Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, the sea
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By the Sea
A truly beautiful book, Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea is full of quiet insight about leaving home, about families, about illegal immigration, and about malice. It has a brilliant humour. Here is a bit about a madrasa, a chuoni on the … Continue reading
Hitching a lift on a US aircraft carrier
The Super Hornet bombers that dropped 8 500-pound JDAM bombs on Islamic State forces in Iraq had flown from the aircraft carrier USS George H W Bush, afloat in the Persian Gulf. It is one among at least 5 Navy ships and 3 ships … Continue reading
Posted in Middle East, militaries, readings, ships, war
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The docks as a non-place
Francisco Goldman and Jean-Claude Izzo speak to each other through their respective novels, The Ordinary Seaman and The Lost Sailors. Both are stories about waiting in the docks, literally, in a floating metal tub full of holes. Both tell stories within stories … Continue reading
Posted in capital accumulation, labour, logistics, ports, readings, seafaring, shipping conditions
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Rime of mariners ancient or modern
I think I read the Rime of the Ancient Mariner some years ago when i was young, but like a great many great works of literature, it is a poem that is wasted on the youth. Its sense of regret, loss, … Continue reading
A love story far from the sea
This beautiful little love story has some extraordinary bits about the Syrian revolution, the subsequent civil war(s), love, families, sectarian sentiments, and the sea: On the second day of Ramadan, I come home from work to find Jesus, Maalik, and … Continue reading
Posted in Middle East, ports, readings, seafaring, the sea, war
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The Cargo Cults of USA – Part II
In an extraordinary essay titled “The Smell of Infrastructure,” Bruce Robbins argues that the scaffolding of our lives, the infrastructure that carries shit and coal and lobsters and water and electricity is often made invisible. He has a rousing call … Continue reading
Jayaben Desai
In this moving obituary of an extraordinary woman, Jayaben Desai, this passage stood out: Desperate for work, the newly arrived accepted long hours and low wages, though the need to do so, Desai said, “nagged away like a sore on … Continue reading
Posted in labour, political economy, ports
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The Gamming 