Category Archives: ports

Interview with Philip Wohlstetter

Posted on 27 April 2020 by Laleh Khalili

For a couple of years now I have really wanted to attend the Red May socialist festival in Seattle, but sadly the timing (and the physical distance) have gotten in the way. This year, because of COVID-19, I ended up … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, finance and insurance, infrastructure, labour, logistics, Melville, Middle East, militaries, oil, political economy, ports, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sinews of War and Trade website

Posted on 15 April 2020 by Laleh Khalili

The brilliant Rafeef Ziadah and Katy Fox-Hodess were instrumental in researching and building the project website, http://sinewswartrade.com/ The project website provides a wealth of information about maritime transportation and the surrounding infrastructures in the Arabian Peninsula. It mines both historic … Continue reading →

Posted in construction, environment, free ports/zones, infrastructure, Middle East, militaries, political economy, ports, transport, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

BBC 3 Free Thinking interview with Matthew Sweet

Posted on 15 April 2020 by Laleh Khalili

Matthew Sweet of BBC Free Thinking was a brilliant reader of the book, having read closely and with an eye for fetching detail. We talked for about half an hour, and the interview can be heard here (my part of … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, free ports/zones, infrastructure, labour, Middle East, political economy, ports, shipping conditions, transport, Travels, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Publication: A World Built on Sand and Oil

Posted on 15 April 2020 by Laleh Khalili

This is probably one of my favourite publications, in part because I was pushed and pushed by Lapham Quarterly‘s superb editors. The essay compares the trade in oil and sand today to think through maritime transportation, the building of infrastructures, the … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, construction, empire, imperialism & colonialism, environment, infrastructure, Middle East, oil, ports, transport, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Medieval Arab Naviation

Posted on 11 September 2017 by Laleh Khalili

“More interesting is the testimony of Ibn al-Mujawir who reports that in 626 A.H./1228-9 A.D. a ship arrived in Aden from Qumr (Comoros or Madagascar); the art of navigation of the people of Qumr impressed him as superior to that … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, ports, seafaring, the sea, Travels, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Shooting the animals

Posted on 3 May 2015 by Laleh Khalili

This post does not strictly have to do with shipping but it is fascinating and it has taken me on a tangent (and I love these tangents that end up weaving the world together).  I am reading the memoirs of Violet … Continue reading →

Posted in empire, ports, war | Leave a comment

Silt

Posted on 15 April 2015 by Laleh Khalili

Silt Stephen Burt Things you know but can’t say, the sort of things, or propositions that build up week after week at the end of the day, & have to be dredged by the practical operators so that their grosser … Continue reading →

Posted in environment, literature, ports, readings | Leave a comment

Arrival

Posted on 5 March 2015 by Laleh Khalili

15 February 2015 16.00 We have arrived too soon, because of steaming at high speed through the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, in order for the ship to make it to Ningbo for an earlier … Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 Trip, capital accumulation, infrastructure, labour, logistics, Middle East, political economy, ports, transport, Travels | Leave a comment

Fouq El-Nakhl: Masaculinities aboard the ship

Posted on 3 March 2015 by Laleh Khalili

“and in everything imposingly beautiful, strength has much to do with the magic.” Herman Melville, Moby Dick   The first incident of its kind happened last night.  Hopefully, also the last.  I was in the wheelroom in the dark, keeping easy … Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 Trip, infrastructure, labour, Middle East, political economy, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions, transport | 1 Comment

Marsaxlokk-Jabal-Ali: Besotted with the sea

Posted on 21 February 2015 by Laleh Khalili

6 February 2015 “For a ship is a bit of terra firma cut off from the main; it is a state in itself; and the captain is its king.” (Melville, White-Jacket – did Conrad plagiarise Melville as I often think … Continue reading →

Posted in 2015 Trip, Allan Sekula, capital accumulation, infrastructure, labour, literature, logistics, Melville, ports, readings, the sea | 2 Comments