Category Archives: infrastructure

The Cargo Cults of USA – Part II

Posted on 16 July 2014 by Laleh Khalili

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 →

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The Cargo Cults of USA – Part I

Posted on 13 July 2014 by Laleh Khalili

John McPhee has taught David Remnick and Richard Stengel and a few other famous journalists to write, and apparently he is a fixture of The New Yorker, but his work is so much more interesting that those of his proteges, and … Continue reading →

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“…We’re all exiles”

Posted on 18 May 2014 by Laleh Khalili

It’s at moments of misfortune that we remember we are all exiles (Total Chaos, p. 98) I first read about Marseilles when I was around 10 years old and someone gave me the Persian translation of The Count of Monte Cristo. … Continue reading →

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LA/LB

Posted on 20 April 2014 by Laleh Khalili

There is an amazing bit in Alan Sekula‘s magisterial Forgotten Space where Angelenos of Latino origin sit at an outdoor space drinking beers and watching enormous container ships glide towards the unloading docks and cranes.  Ever since watching that, I really wanted … Continue reading →

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London comes closer to the sea

Posted on 26 March 2014 by Laleh Khalili

Dubai Ports World runs London Gateway which will be competing against Felixstowe and Southampton to be the top container port in the UK.  Like many other DPW concerns, there seems to be an iron (or ham-) fisted determination to not let workers unionise – although … Continue reading →

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Interconnections

Posted on 26 March 2014 by Laleh Khalili

Dead Water by Simon Ings is the most fabulously dystopian novel about shipping, containers, ships, airships, tsunami, shipping, and dastardly deed that can happen when vast numbers of ships are circumnavigating the globes with vast numbers of containers on board.  One … Continue reading →

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