The Corporeal Life of Seafaring

Published 2024 by MACK.

ISBN:: 978-1-915743-26-8

(1 review)

The body of the seafarer is a fulcrum upon which global systems of power, longstanding maritime traditions, and gendered and racialised pressures all rest. In this vital new essay, scholar Laleh Khalili draws on her ongoing research and experiences of travelling on cargo ships to explore the embodied life of these labourers. She investigates an experience riddled with adversities – loneliness, loss, and violence, stolen wages and exploitative shipowners – as well as ephemeral moments of joy and solidarity. In the unique arena of the ship, Khalili traces the many forms of corporeality involved in work at sea and the ways the body is engaged by the institutions that engulf seafarers’ lives and work.

Illustrated throughout with the author’s own photographs, this book takes in both scholarly and literary accounts to describe with care and imagination the material and physical realities of contemporary commerce at sea. Drawing on the insights …

The body of the seafarer is a fulcrum upon which global systems of power, longstanding maritime traditions, and gendered and racialised pressures all rest. In this vital new essay, scholar Laleh Khalili draws on her ongoing research and experiences of travelling on cargo ships to explore the embodied life of these labourers. She investigates an experience riddled with adversities – loneliness, loss, and violence, stolen wages and exploitative shipowners – as well as ephemeral moments of joy and solidarity. In the unique arena of the ship, Khalili traces the many forms of corporeality involved in work at sea and the ways the body is engaged by the institutions that engulf seafarers’ lives and work.

Illustrated throughout with the author’s own photographs, this book takes in both scholarly and literary accounts to describe with care and imagination the material and physical realities of contemporary commerce at sea. Drawing on the insights of feminists and scholars of racial capitalism, it centres the lives of those so often forgotten or dismissed in enterprises of capital accumulation and the raced and gendered hierarchies that shape them.

1 edition

christa reviewed The Corporeal Life of Seafaring by Laleh Khalili (Discourse, #011)

a seafaring survey, grounded by the body

5 stars

this is my introduction to leleh khalili's scholarship and, more or less, to seafaring as a topic. it was an enjoyable one—the booklet is 100 quick pages, a really lovely physical object with images mostly taken of her own studies and travels. it introduces a lot of different topics relating to modern international trade that I had never thought about—how laws, wages, and working conditions are dictated on vessels crossing international waters; international labor solidarity within one boat (or lack thereof); etc.

the book centers all of this around discussions of corporeality and bodily experience, in ways that often left me feeling sad about all of the embodied knowledge and experiences technological advancement has taken from us. I don't think this feeling is nostalgic, exactly, but I'm investigating it. anyway, khalili ends up suggesting it is the alienation of capitalism, which is probably right but not wholly adequate for me …

this is my introduction to leleh khalili's scholarship and, more or less, to seafaring as a topic. it was an enjoyable one—the booklet is 100 quick pages, a really lovely physical object with images mostly taken of her own studies and travels. it introduces a lot of different topics relating to modern international trade that I had never thought about—how laws, wages, and working conditions are dictated on vessels crossing international waters; international labor solidarity within one boat (or lack thereof); etc.

the book centers all of this around discussions of corporeality and bodily experience, in ways that often left me feeling sad about all of the embodied knowledge and experiences technological advancement has taken from us. I don't think this feeling is nostalgic, exactly, but I'm investigating it. anyway, khalili ends up suggesting it is the alienation of capitalism, which is probably right but not wholly adequate for me as an explanation or signpost to more satisfying relations.

I think this is a great introduction to the topic and a gateway to khalili's other work, or just a nice standalone volume.