Blogroll
- Critical Logistics
- Fabulous and weird website full of all sorts of info
- Geographical Imaginations
- International Transport Workers' Federation
- Middle East Report
- Object Lessons (on containers)
- Oceans Beyond Piracy
- Paleofutures – good tech stuff
- Port to port
- Progressive Geographies
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Archives
Category Archives: seafaring
Ports, ships and the human economy of global sea trade: an interview with Laleh Khalili
Little has been written about the sea trade in the Gulf. Laleh Khalili’s latest book explores the complex realities that drive this massive economy.Tugrul Mende30 June 2020 During the COVID-19 pandemic many workers in ports and on ships have either … Continue reading
Interview with Diepgang magazine
In January I gave a talk at the Erasmus university in Rotterdam. I was incredibly pleased that a lot of seafarers and people working with seafarers came to see it (and some were also critical of the talk – they … Continue reading
Posted in labour, media, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions, ships, transport
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Interview with Jadaliyya’s New Text Out Now
Laleh Khalili, Sinews of War and Trade: Shipping and Capitalism in the Arabian Peninsula (Verso, 2020). Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this book? Laleh Khalili (LK): Towards the end of 2011, I had just finished the manuscript for Time in the Shadows, research … Continue reading
Interstitial Podcast
I spoke with the brilliant David Huber of the Interstitial podcast, which you can listen to here: https://thinkbelt.org/shows/interstitial/sinews-of-war-and-trade-laleh-khalili He asked me to suggest 4 books and I had to think on my feet, so of course I suggested the following: … Continue reading
Abandoned Seafarers
Abandoned at Sea: Sailors and COVID-19 The stranded Indian crew members on board MSC Grandiosa, docked in Italy at present (Al Jazeera) On the list of COVID-19 afflicted countries tallied by the Johns Hopkins University Corona Resource Centre there … Continue reading
Posted in labour, logistics, political economy, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions
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The poetry of medieval maritime travel
I have been reading Arab navigation manuals and travelogues, and there is such poetry in the navigation manuals in particular. It is the liminality of the navigation texts in particular – between art and science, familiar and wholly other. I … Continue reading
Posted in Middle East, seafaring, the sea, Travels, Uncategorized
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Medieval Arab Naviation
“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
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Fouq El-Nakhl: Masaculinities aboard the ship
“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 infrastructure, labour, Middle East, political economy, ports, seafaring, shipping conditions, transport
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About Today: Steaming the security seas
10 February 2015 Everything anticipated our entry into what I can only call security seas. There are ships that do not send signals: they turn out to be warships of a sort, small, compact, going only at 7 knots with … Continue reading
Posted in empire, imperialism & colonialism, militaries, piracy, seafaring, transport, Travels, war
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A Bunch of Lonesome Heroes: The factory at sea
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
