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- Critical Logistics
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Archives
Category Archives: the sea
Planet B: Laleh Khalili on Sovereignty and Seafarers
“Instead of treating the ocean as a space for frictionless accumulation, can we imagine a “blue new deal” that refuses to carve up water into routes and resources controlled by the most powerful? This episode features insights from Tina Ngata, … Continue reading
Carceral Seas
I gave a talk to the Millennium Conference in October which can be seen here: And hopefully it will be published in the next few months!
SSRC: A Time Capsule for Future Social Researchers
On 15 May 2020 I had a really great conversation with Indian Ocean historian Dr Saarah Jappie about a visual artefact that should be included in an SSRC time capsule on COVID-19. Here is the result of the conversation: Inspired … Continue reading
Posted in labour, logistics, media, shipping conditions, ships, the sea, transport
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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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The unbearable deaths of thousands in the deep
And yet these unbearable deaths are borne by those who turn away. As I am left mute with horror, I shall post these poems which I think speak to the deaths of so many in this watery graveyard: from Salt By … Continue reading
Posted in empire, literature, shipping conditions, the sea
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Une Année Sans Lumiere: Encounters before Suez Canal
7 February 2015 15.00 Last night I was invited by the Filipino crew members to one of the crew members’ birthday party. He is an engine -fitter and he will be turning 40 tomorrow. The crew recreation room unsurprisingly had … Continue reading
Posted in 2015 Trip, labour, Middle East, militaries, the sea, Travels
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Marsaxlokk-Jabal-Ali: Besotted with the sea
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
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Areia de Salamanca: The Razzia in the 16th century
5 February 2015 I borrowed Braudel’s discussion of the presidios on the North African coast yesterday to reflect on logistics… But as I read on, there was also the counterinsurgency element against the colonials (about which Braudel seems remarkably sanguine; … Continue reading
Posted in 2015 Trip, empire, imperialism & colonialism, militaries, ports, readings, the sea, war
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all subtle and submarine
The Sea is History By Derek Walcott Where are your monuments, your battles, martyrs? Where is your tribal memory? Sirs, in that grey vault. The sea. The sea has locked them up. The sea is History. First, there was the … Continue reading
Posted in literature, the sea
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The Gamming 