Category Archives: readings

Silt

Posted on 15 April 2015 by

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

Pirate Jenny: Labour and capital in Khor Fakkan

Posted on 4 March 2015 by

14 February 2015 in Khor Fakkan port After several hours of watching the unloading of the ship, and after walking on the port to go to the duty-free shop (to buy a new memory card for my camera), it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Allan Sekula, capital accumulation, environment, labour, logistics, Middle East, readings, transport, Travels | Leave a comment

Machineries of Joy: Wrestling with the technological sublime

Posted on 2 March 2015 by

This one is for my friends Rachel Shabi and Waleed Hazbun, who might recognise something of the pathos of our common paternal utopias in it… 11 February 2015 “Hyperbole is the main stock in trade of publicists, boosters and even … Continue reading →

Posted in Allan Sekula, capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, infrastructure, logistics, Middle East, political economy, readings, the sublime, transport, Travels | Leave a comment

A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes: The factory at sea

Posted on 26 February 2015 by

9 February 2015 20.00 “Going forward and glancing over the weather bow, [… the] prospect was unlimited, but exceedingly monotonous and forbidding; not the slightest variety that I could see.” Herman Melville, Moby Dick For the next few days, we … Continue reading →

Posted in Allan Sekula, capital accumulation, labour, literature, Melville, Middle East, political economy, readings, seafaring, shipping conditions, transport, Travels | Leave a comment

Reading Capital 2 on a containership

Posted on 25 February 2015 by

8 February 2015 You begin to realise how much Marx actually crafted his writing when you compare Capital I to Capital II.  The former is beautifully edited, funny, extensively footnoted, erudite, and with a gorgeous narrative structure that inexorably push … Continue reading →

Posted in capital accumulation, empire, imperialism & colonialism, labour, political economy, readings, transport, Travels | Leave a comment

Shim El-Yasmine: Suez Canal

Posted on 24 February 2015 by

8 February 2015 “the great current of human inclination is to enjoyment.”  Karl Marx, Capital Vol. II I want to be more jaded.  After all, my nautical venture is an all-expenses-paid research trip – the best of both worlds: doing … Continue reading →

Posted in Allan Sekula, Middle East, militaries, readings, transport, Travels | Leave a comment

Peace Frog: Conquest by infrastructure

Posted on 22 February 2015 by

6 February 2015 I have to admit that I prefer Braudel’s longue durée over his histoire événtmentielle: Perhaps his influence runs through all the great historical accounts written since 1949, where explanations and theoretical framings are comfortably married to historiographic … Continue reading →

Posted in infrastructure, logistics, militaries, readings, war | Leave a comment