"Nowhere near Somalia, Mom" - On containerizing maritime piracy and being good men - Berghahn Journals
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“Nowhere near Somalia, Mom”
On containerizing maritime piracy and being good men
Adrienne Mannov
Abstract: Just as containerized goods appear to flow seamlessly across the planet’s
oceans, internationalized and standardized certificates present seafaring labor as
uniform and seamless. But underneath these certificates are the intimate and un-
equal entanglements of local masculinity norms, age, and kinship ties that sustain
the maritime labor supply chain. In this article, we follow how three young, male
seafarers from eastern India find ways to contain piracy risks at work and poverty
risks at home, and their sense of obligation as men, sons, husbands, and fathers. By
delving into the unequal conditions for industrial male workers from the Global
South, this article demonstrates how containerized maritime labor commodities
are not uniform but are dependent upon economic inequality and intimate kinship
ties to be productive.
Keywords: gender, global capitalism, inequality, kinship, maritime labor, maritime
piracy, masculinity
I met Hardik, a marine engineer, in 2012 on coast of India. He introduced me to his family,
board a container ship trading in the Indian his seafaring friends, and their families. One of
Ocean while doing research on merchant sea- our first stops was for lunch at his and his par-
farers and contemporary maritime piracy. In ent’s house. As we enjoyed the meal his mother
the process of a piracy attack, seafarers can be prepared, we talked about risks at sea. His fa-
subjected to considerable violence and kidnap- ther reasoned, “There are risks everywhere. It’s
ping. But Hardik often wanted to talk about his no different on the ship.”
concern for his loved ones at home. His dirty Hardik countered: “The ship is safer.”
boiler suit and oil-blackened fingernails from His mother laughed and said, “That’s because
working in the engine room stood in stark con- he knows that his father will take care of him
trast to his tall stature, bookish glasses, and soft when he’s home!”
voice. He was recently married and he and his Hardik laughed and nodded in appreciation.
wife, who was expecting their first child, lived Considering shipboard risks, such as serious ac-
with Hardik’s parents. cidents, storms, social isolation, and piracy, this
Some months later, after he signed off, I vis- exchange puzzled me. Did Hardik’s father pro-
ited Hardik in his hometown on the eastern tect him from risks like these at home? It did not
Focaal—Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology 89 (2021): 40–51
© The Authors
doi:10.3167/fcl.2021.890104“Nowhere near Somalia, Mom” | 41
seem so. But Hardik had also warned me not to I begin by situating my arguments in schol-
discuss risks at sea with his parents. After lunch, arly literature on the role of gender and labor
Hardik showed me the school he attended as and, specifically, masculinity and to standard-
a child. Closed in the meantime, the buildings ization processes in global supply chains and
remained dusty and abandoned in the hot May critical logistics. Thereafter, I continue the story
sun. As we peered into the empty classrooms, with Hardik’s friend Dulal and a discussion about
I asked Hardik why he chose to be a seafarer. masculinity and the affective skills required to
He told me about a boy in his class who always keep a seafaring job. Leaning on the container
wore nice clothes, adding, “His father was a sea- as metaphor, I show how dishonesty functions
farer.” From that point on, Hardik wanted to be as a strategy to contain the contradictory goal of
a seafarer, too. providing for families by endangering one’s life.
Hardik belongs to a global workforce of ap- This leads me to another friend, Sachiv, whose
proximately 1.5 million seafarers who, literally, story illustrates how essential, following Tsing,
move the world’s economies. Anthropologist “noneconomic arrangements” are in the global
Anna Tsing writes (2009) that as the standard- supply chain of maritime labor and how various
ization of big industry in the twentieth century forms of containerization disrupt this tenuous
grew pervasive, economic concerns regarding and intimate balance.
labor and production were perceived as sepa-
rate from “cultural” or “noneconomic” concerns,
such as gender, ethnicity, kinship ties, and age. Following labor “goods”
Their role in class formation was relegated to
the “noneconomic” realm, seen as irrelevant The overwhelming majority of merchant sea-
to labor and production (Tsing 2009: 158). I farers are men1—and significantly, men of color
recognize this logic in my work with seafarers, from countries that struggle with widespread
and according to geographer Deborah Cowen, socio-economic inequality. The Philippines and
it pervades modern logistics more generally China provide the industry with the largest
(Cowen 2014: 114). On the factory floors of amounts of seafaring labor globally (see Mark-
“Taylorism,” these ideas sought to optimize kula, this issue), while India, Russia, and the
profits. They are applied across divergent sites Ukraine jockey for second place.2 By working at
and commodities, and from a maritime indus- sea, seafarers like Hardik can earn a good salary
try perspective, we see them in the innovation and work toward better lives for themselves and
of the intermodal container (Martin 2014)— their families, a goal that is intimately linked to
called “containerization”—in the international their specific kinship ties and expectations of
streamlining of maritime labor commodities what it means to be good men, sons, husbands,
(ILO 2004), and in the construction of maritime and fathers.
space (Steinberg 2001). There is a rich body of literature that ad-
Leaning on Tsing’s critical reference to the dresses the relationship between gender and
“noneconomic” realm, I argue that for Hardik labor, where those dealing with global labor
and his friends, local masculinity norms, kinship supply chains and migrant labor are particu-
ties, and age are containerized but not irrelevant larly relevant for my arguments (Barker 2012;
to the seemingly smooth flow of global labor to Contreras and Griffith 2012; D. McKay 2007;
the merchant maritime industry. By retelling a Parreñas 2009; Tsing 2009; Yeates 2008). These
series of events on a day spent with Hardik and contributions have offered important insights
his friends in his hometown, I show that through about how gender, ethnicity, kinship ties, and
various acts of containment, they are the very age intersect on globalized labor markets, re-
nutrients that feed these seafarers’ families and sulting in the exploitation of laborers. Many of
the global maritime labor supply chain. these works focus on laborers in nursing, home42 | Adrienne Mannov
healthcare, childcare, and those whose labor is legible as an interchangeable labor commodity
defined as “affective.” But, following Tsing, how with specific skills. The standardization of sea-
these “noneconomic realms” intersect for men faring certificates, called the UN STCW Con-
in globalized labor markets is often underrepre- vention,3 does that work. As a marine engineer,
sented (on seafarers, see Fajardo 2011; S. McKay Hardik’s international certifications document
2007 for important exceptions). With this arti- his specific yet interchangeable skills. In the in-
cle, I hope to shed more light on this theme. troduction to this special issue, Leivestad and
With the introduction of streamlined global Markkula draw our attention to the “leviathan
supply chains, jobs have increasingly been out- movement of goods” across the globe that the
sourced to laborers from countries where wages shipping industry facilitates (see Leivestad and
are lower and occupational health requirements Markkula, this issue [pg 3]). It is, however, worth
less restrictive and, thus, cheaper (Cowen 2014: noting that from the shipowner’s perspective,
124; ILO 2004: 60). Anthropologist Aihwa Ong the cost of maritime labor is a significant part
has referred to this as “labor arbitrage” (2006; of operating costs, alongside the cost of buying
see also Mannov 2021, forthcoming). Arbitrage vessels and fuel to run them (Stopford 2009:
usually refers to the “practice of buying low in a 221). In this way, seafaring labor is a “good” that
market and selling high elsewhere” (Ong 2006: is also subject to supply chain logics (Mitroussi
160). But, Ong argues, moving the work of pro- and Marlow 2010). Thus, just as goods are con-
duction to locations where labor costs were tainerized, making their transportation faster,
lower, works according to a similar logic: “same easier, and more profitable, the standardization
skills, different prices” (Ong 2006: 160). Cowen of seafaring certificates does similar work.
offers similar arguments about outsourced labor The container is a helpful metaphor for my
in global supply chains, and both associate these arguments. Cultural geographer and design the-
processes with heightened precarity (Cowen orist Craig Martin explains that before the in-
2014: 14; Ong 2006: 164). For outsourced logis- troduction of the container, handling diversely
tics workers, such as seafarers, this can include shaped and sized cargo was work intensive and
heightened physical dangers on the job (Cowen expensive (Martin 2014: 436). With the con-
2014: 96). Seafaring has always been a danger- tainer, ideally, “inconsistencies of commodity
ous job and can include accidents, storms, social shape and form were smoothed out through the
isolation, and piracy. The latter may entail beat- unifying force of homogenised, unitised and
ing, stabbing, shooting, death threats, torture, standardised containers” (Martin 2014: 435). Of
and kidnapping (Mannov 2021, forthcoming; course, a commodity retains its shape, whether
OBP 2015). But with the introduction of labor packed in a container or not. But the container
arbitrage, the cost of labor from Western coun- conceals its “inconsistencies” (see Leivestad, this
tries is becoming prohibitive (Mannov 2020). issue). Martin’s unruly shapes and forms remind
As a result, these jobs are often left to workers me of Taylor’s innovations in factories at the
from the Global South, for whom risks to their beginning of the twentieth century. Work was
physical and mental health are wagered against “dissected” and divided “into their component
the security that a steady income brings (Man- movements” (Cowen 2014: 107). The standard-
nov 2021, forthcoming). ization of both the container and seafaring labor
In order for labor commodities to be arbi- are steeped in this organizing logic. The container
traged, they must be considered interchangeable as metaphor helps me illustrate how seafarers
(Mannov 2021, forthcoming). As Ong explains: “contain” their emotions and details about their
“same skills, different prices” (Ong 2006:160). personal lives and how this serves and is embed-
This means that if Hardik wishes to provide ded in the logic of labor “containerization.”
for his family by working as a marine engineer The standardization to which Martin refers
in the global shipping industry, he needs to be is facilitated by a construction of the ocean as“Nowhere near Somalia, Mom” | 43
a single, seamless space. Geographer Philip
Steinberg explains how the representation of
the ocean has changed in ways that reflect polit-
ical and economic power shifts through history
(2001). For example, pre-modern empire pow-
ers attempted to cartographically stretch their
territorial reach “thousands of miles into open
waters” (Wigen 2011: 140), whereas the current
representation of the ocean in international mar-
itime law has its roots in a seventeenth-century
spat between Portugal and Holland over which
mercantile empire could claim rights to valu-
able resources in the ocean. Jurist Hugo Grotius
resolved the conflict by arguing that the sea may
be understood as “free,” or mare liberum (Gro-
tius 1609), a framing that introduces the notion
of the commons, thus constructing the ocean
“within a wider context of freedom of trade and
navigation” (Dua 2019: 35–37).4 Mare liberum
is the basis for the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which gov-
erns all activity at sea, privileging a view that Figure . Photo of the footpath leading to
is conducive to global trade and obscuring Dulal and his family’s home. Source: author.
other shapes and forms of oceanic space (see
also Schubert, this issue). This activity includes on the footpath. This was his family’s access to
the STCW and other maritime conventions. drinking water, serving approximately 100 peo-
Thus, the logic of containerization at work in ple from the immediate neighborhood. In the
the standardized container and in standard- new house, water faucets were indoors. He did
ized maritime space is also present in Hardik’s not want his parents to have to fight over water
standardized certifications. With these global in the heat, he explained. If not for the house
perspectives in mind, I return to Hardik’s home- loan, he would stop sailing. “I’m stuck,” he said.
town and to his friend Dulal. Dulal’s family paid for his education, they
chose the woman he would soon marry, and
they lived together in a house provided by pre-
The inconsistent shapes of masculinity vious generations. Dulal contributed to this
long-term exchange by buying his family a more
After Hardik showed me his school, we met his comfortable house. In order to finance this, he
friend Dulal, who also sails in piracy areas. As sailed. In fact, he asked specifically for routes
we walked up the narrow footpath to his current through high-risk areas, in order to benefit from
family home (see Figure 1), Dulal explained that the hardship allowance his employer paid. He
he bought a house for his family and he hoped did all this because this was his understanding
they would move there together. The house they of how to be a good man and son in his family
were living in now had been in the family for and community. Dulal’s story is specific to him.
generations. His father would never leave, he The alley, the house, and the pipe in the ground
told me. “People are like laborers here. Fight- are the sites of his life and his relationships, tied
ing for 100 rupees. Fighting over water.” Dulal to his family’s traditions and history. They are
pointed to a pipe sticking out of the ground particular and inconsistent in the sense that44 | Adrienne Mannov
they are not the same details as those in other aggression” (2014: 1830). As captain and office
seafarers’ lives. Yet, these are the details that manager, both men made this version of what it
have led him to a career at sea, where his labor is meant to be a good man and seafarer the stan-
a standardized commodity on a global market. dard for getting and keeping a seafaring job. For
most of the seafarers I worked with, this had
“Pussies can sign off ” little to do with not being “pussies.” They were
worried, but their fears had to do with providing
Months later, I was on board another ship, keep- financial security for their families in a country
ing bridge officer Dhananjay company during where profound poverty was visible every day.
morning watch. As we inched our way along Dhananjay, Hardik, and Dulal were not daring,
the coast of Angola,5 Dhananjay told me about risk-takers. In fact, subjecting themselves to
the first time he sailed through “GoA” (Gulf of avoidable risks was seen as childish. They just
Aden). It was 2011, and attacks near GoA had did not have much choice. Dhananjay’s story
reached a fever pitch (Dua 2019: 15). The com- illustrates that containing fear is a necessary
pany gave seafarers the option to sign off, which skill for seafaring work, but it is not codified in
the captain, a white man from Denmark, shared STCW certificates. This skill remains concealed.
with the crew. Dhananjay explained, “There was
a whiteboard next to the mess where messages Contained and containerized men
were posted. The captain wrote: ‘We are going
through GoA. Pussies can sign off.’” I raised The captain’s bullish behavior and Albert’s po-
a querying eyebrow, and Dhananjay quickly sition on men expressing fear may be situated
added, “Nobody signed off.” Pussy is slang and in a historical debate about the industrial male
has a double meaning. It refers to someone who worker as a universal figure. Referencing Marx
is afraid and to female genitals. Thus, the cap- and Engels, Anna Tsing writes: “class relations
tain’s message disqualifies the masculinity and could be imagined as abstract, transcendent of
skill of a seafarer who is afraid. According to the person-making characteristics of particular
this captain, a proper seafarer is a man with no times and places, and thus, substantially gen-
fear, or at least, the ability to hide it. der-, race-, and nationality neutral. These white
Although not as explicit as the captain, office male industrial workers became figurative pro-
manager Albert had similar ideas about seafar- tagonists of a social movement” (2009: 153).
ers, men, and fear. Most of my research focused Tsing further warns that critics of global
on seafarers, but I also spent time in shipping capitalism risk effacing the diverse identities
company offices around the world to understand that workers bring with them by imagining the
piracy from a corporate perspective. Albert is industrial worker as a white man and as an ab-
a white, straight man from a Western country stract, neutral protagonist in a universal strug-
with a seafaring and military background. He gle for workers’ rights. But for Hardik and his
holds a leading position in the company and friends, keeping their job depended upon their
makes decisions about security and crewing. ability to contain their “person-making char-
“The guy who bawls, loses respect, most of all acteristics”: For Dulal, being a good son meant
for himself,” he told me. Both men seemed to taking out a loan to finance a new house for his
valorize certain notions of masculinity that re- family, and for Dhananjay, containing his fear
searchers Smith and Kimmel recognize as “very enabled him to retain his job and provide for his
traditional and stereotype definitions of mascu- family. In addition, challenging the “neutrality”
linity” among straight, white men from Western and universality of this idealized worker would
countries, including “the relentless repudiation reveal the inequality of the norm. Dhananjay
of the feminine . . . emotional impermeability, told me the story about his captain because I
inexpressiveness, . . . daring, risk taking, and“Nowhere near Somalia, Mom” | 45
was a safe listener. He and the rest of the crew omitted information about the risks they faced
did not challenge the captain. at work.
This discussion speaks to the notion of affec- Since 2011, successful piracy attacks and hi-
tive skill, something that is rarely discussed in jackings in the Indian Ocean have fallen drasti-
relation to gender and male migrant laborers. cally. Despite this significant decline, word had
Anthropologist Steve McKay is an exception. spread among seafaring families: “Somalia” was
By performing meekness and helpfulness (and the red flag. Peter, a young bridge officer from
masking anger), he argues that that Filipino India explained: “You can talk to my family as
seafarers are able retain their seafaring jobs (S. long as you don’t tell them where Somalia is. My
McKay 2007). This suggests that far from being mother asks, ‘Where is this Port Sudan? Where
irrelevant to the “economic concerns regarding is this Djibouti?’ I say, ‘Nowhere near Somalia,
labor and production” (Tsing 2009: 158), it is Mom.’”
precisely because seafarers’ stories come in in- Djibouti and Port Sudan are quite close to
consistent “shapes and forms” (Martin 2014: Somalia, and it is unlikely that one would sail
435) that maritime labor arbitrage is profitable to these ports without passing the Somali coast.
for shipowners. The ability to hide fear, perform Yet, as long as Peter did not say, “Somalia,” his
meekness, and mask anger are necessary affec- mother felt reassured. Hardik and Dulal had
tive skills, but they are not codified in STCW similar tactics. Dulal sails tankers, which are
certificates. The inequalities of the standard- more vulnerable to attacks, partly because they
ized, containerized maritime labor commodity sail more slowly and have a low freeboard, mak-
remain in the box. ing it easier to climb on board from another
vessel. He told me: “Basically, they don’t know
about Somalia, so I keep it that way. Nobody
“Nowhere near Somalia, Mom” gives that info. I’m getting double pay for seven
days. The family doesn’t know that I get hard-
For Dulal and Hardik, continuing to work as ship.6 It’s better to keep it quiet because ques-
seafarers helped protect their families from tions will come.”
poverty. But seafaring as a way of providing As noted earlier, Dulal wanted to stop sail-
for their families had some built-in contradic- ing, but he felt “stuck” by the loan he took to
tions. On the one hand, the income seafaring finance his house project. Hardship allowance
generated could be translated into the long- helped him pay off his loans more quickly, but
term exchanges that reproduced the social or- this information had to be contained. Other
der in seafarers’ families and communities. On seafarers in his community were in a similar po-
the other hand, the risks connected to seafar- sition. Hardik and Dulal were eager to help me
ing, such as accidents, storms, social isolation, meet seafarers in their town who sailed in pi-
and piracy, threatened the reproduction of the racy areas, but this proved difficult. One seafarer
social order that seafaring was meant to safe- told Hardik that I was not welcome. His family
guard. This meant that seafarers had to navi- wanted him to stop sailing because of piracy, and
gate between the information they shared with my visit, he worried, would strengthen their ar-
their families in order to maintain their social guments. Dulal elaborated: “It’s a very sensitive
ties with one another and the information they topic. We don’t have other options. I have my
chose to omit, so as not to worry them. Being friends. They don’t tell. If I go to their home, [I
completely honest about piracy risks could cause don’t tell]. . . . Please don’t tell my family.”
their families to demand they quit. This in turn, When Dulal introduced me to his family, I
could pose risks to the family’s material secu- was careful to describe my research in general
rity. And so, in order to continue to earn money terms. But as we chatted with his parents, sis-
at sea, some seafarers told lies, kept secrets, and ters, and their children under an overworked46 | Adrienne Mannov
ceiling fan, Dulal commented quite frankly on tainerization, but, unless a seafarer only sees
risks at sea. After we left, I asked him how he himself as a labor commodity, containerization
dared. He replied: “My father only understands always implies containment.
English if you speak slowly. If he had truly un-
derstood what we were talking about, he would Knowing and not knowing
have confronted me. Not in front of you, but he
would later. I say as little as possible about it and Hardik also kept his voyages through the Indian
they don’t ask.” Ocean from his family. But, he told me later,
Dulal was dishonest with his family, even de- he was sure his father had figured it out. Har-
vious, but his lie was productive (Mygind Korsby dik often told his parents where he was signing
2013: 139). It kept his family from worrying and on, but never shared his itinerary with them
it kept him at sea. On dishonesty, Georg Simmel upon departure. However, upon returning, he
writes, the “the direct positive . . . significance of happily told them stories about his voyages,
untruthfulness” lies in the ability misinforma- which included anecdotes from ports along the
tion has to console, sustain [and] to reproduce way. After a while, and with some geographi-
family ties and roles (1906: 447). According cal knowledge, his father recognized a pattern.
to Simmel, no relationship is ever defined by Hardik told me that they never spoke about it,
one objective and total truth but by “what it is but he knew that his father knew.
necessary to know for the purposes of the re- For Hardik’s father, knowing about his son’s
lationship in question” (Simmel 1906: 451). In itineraries could force him (back) into the role
order to console, sustain, and reproduce family of protector. This is perhaps why he proclaimed,
ties, confirming his roles as a good son, Dulal “There are risks everywhere. It’s no different on
was dishonest. In doing so, he could sustain his the ship.” In order for Hardik to grow into his
parents’ belief that his work situation was under responsibilities as an adult man, husband, and
control and that they could depend on his stable father, he needed to continue to provide for
contribution to their material security. himself and his family. As a result, it was im-
I wish to tease out the differences and con- portant for his father to continue to propagate
nections between containing information and the notion of life at sea as just as safe as (or even
the containerization of labor. “To contain” has safer than) life on land. By knowing and not
a dual meaning: to suppress and to comprise knowing, Hardik’s father contributed to the re-
of. Dulal’s work was, in part, comprised of pi- production of their familial roles. Considering
racy risks, and information about these risks the significant social and financial investments
was suppressed so as not to worry his family. that Indian seafarers and their families made for
By not signing off, Dhananjay kept his fear and each other, choosing to exit this exchange could
personal circumstances from his captain, thus disrupt the family’s social order and the smooth
keeping his job. These acts of containment do flow of labor to the supply chain. This brings us
different things. As Simmel notes, suppressing back to that hot day in Hardik’s hometown, and
information can “console” and “sustain.” By to another friend, Sachiv.
doing this, Dulal was confirming local mascu-
linity norms and kinship ties. Dhananjay also
suppressed information, but the purpose was Becoming a householder
not to console or sustain but to remain legible
as a containerized maritime labor commodity. After we visited with his family, Dulal and I
But both acts of containment point back to the met Hardik, who was waiting with the car. They
containerizing violence of standardized labor wanted me to meet Dulal’s cousin Sachiv, who
practices in the international shipping industry. lived on the outskirts of town. But as we arrived
Containment does not necessarily imply con- at the address, Dulal said that there were some“Nowhere near Somalia, Mom” | 47
“issues” between the two, so he would not come be promoted could be costly and time-consum-
up. Sachiv was waiting for me at the door with ing. Some seafarers receive full STCW certifica-
his wife, Mary. tion through their education, and they move up
The apartment appeared to be newly reno- the ranks via sailing experience. But if Indian
vated. They did not have any children, and they seafarers wanted to be promoted after their ba-
lived there alone. Sachiv explained that Mary sic education, they had to take time off from
is Christian and that he is Hindu. They met work—without pay or job security—to study
three times by coincidence at the mall, which for and take further certification exams. This
convinced them that fate had brought them required financial support from their family.
together. They decided to marry, a decision to Sachiv explained, “I am afraid that if I stop to do
which Sachiv’s family was vehemently opposed. the exams, they will not take me back. I will not
Disgust palpable in her voice, Mary explained leave [the company]. . . . Every rupee is earned
that Sachiv’s family was upset because of the by me. I have no backup plan, no help from my
dowry. She is one of six girls, she continued, and parents. I can’t stop this.”
there is no dowry tradition in her family. Sachiv We finished the interview, and Sachiv insisted
countered that his family was “not suffering fi- on accompanying me down to the car. As we
nancially! If they needed something, I would stepped into the sultry afternoon heat, Sachiv
give it to them, but they are fine.” discovered Dulal sitting in the backseat of the
Sachiv seemed to be making two claims: car. The AC was running, so he got in, next to
First, he was defending his family against Mary’s Dulal. Exuberant, they wrestled affectionately,
assertion that they were in some way greedy and when, suddenly, Hardik pressed the accelerator
that the dowry was their only concern. Second, to the floor and yelled, “We are hijacking you!”
Sachiv was letting me know that even though The wheels screeched as we raced down the
he had chosen to disregard his family’s wishes street, leaving billows of hot dust in our wake,
about his bride and had moved away, he was all of us laughing hard.
aware of and accepted his obligation as their Dulal has never met Mary. He explained later
son to care for them financially if need be. He that he and Sachiv had been very close, and that
continued: “Now that my family has excluded the break between them was painful, adding:
me, all I have is my job. All of this,”—he said, “This is why I want the whole family to move
gesturing to the apartment—“is paid for by me. with me to the house. Because when the son
Every penny.” The break with his family did not moves away, the neighbors talk and they want
just mean that Sachiv distanced himself on an to know what went wrong.” It is acceptable if the
interpersonal level. His decision had financial son moves away for work, but “if the neighbors
consequences. The route he most often sailed— have not seen him for a while, they will ask,
Europe–Asia–USA—passes through piracy ar- ‘Where is he?’ If the address is just across town,
eas. The ships were protected by armed guards, then the rumors start to fly, and it is hard on the
but he added, it was “not 100 percent safe. You parents.” Dulal heard Sachiv’s father’s side of the
have to do what the captain and the company story and felt that Sachiv had been unfair. He
say. If you refuse to sail in these areas, then you reasoned, “His father had never been strict, and
have to leave the company. Nobody wants to he paid for his [initial] education. There had
take the risk.” Risk seemed to mean two things: never been any bad blood between them.” In
the risk of sailing through piracy areas and risk Dulal’s eyes, Sachiv did not reciprocate the care
of losing their employment. given to him by his family. In fact, he released
For many Indian seafarers, getting a mari- himself from that system, which was not just a
time education is costly and involves the entire refusal of his family’s expectations with regard
family. Sachiv was a 3rd officer at the time, and to marriage; it was an affront to the entire fami-
I knew that the courses and exams required to ly’s moral economy. Pushing the container met-48 | Adrienne Mannov
aphor, Sachiv’s lack of “backup plan” meant he Sachiv made an independent decision to strike
was no longer contained—neither suppressed out on his own, but Dulal’s criticism suggests
by, nor comprised of—the reciprocal family re- that Sachiv is more akin to the kallan, although
lationship, but this left him more vulnerable to Dulal never referred to him in this or any other
the violent effects of industrial containerization. pejorative way.7
Sachiv’s decision challenged a reciprocal re-
Containing the life-cycle lationship that I heard about in many Indian
seafaring families: A son’s seafaring labor was
Although these stories make points about a for the sake of the family. Because of this, his
global industry, they are also about coming of basic education is financed by the family, and
age. In their work on male labor migrants from when he takes further qualifying exams, the
Kerala, India, Filippo Osella and Caroline Os- family holds an economic hand over him un-
ella write about categories of masculinity that til he can return to sea, presumably in a higher
“connote the male life-cycle” in a community position with a larger salary. In exchange, the
“characterized by a rapidly expanding middle seafarer provides salary and behaves in a way
class” (2000: 118). They explain: that honors his family, such as accepting the
bride his parents choose for him, where he
The gulfan refers to the migrant during should live, and even how long his sailing ca-
his periodic visits home and immediately reer lasts. In fact, getting promoted to a senior
upon return. A transitional and individu- officer position quickly was an often-cited goal
alistic figure, defined largely through rela- because this enabled seafarers to stop working
tionships to cash and consumption, he is at sea. With senior officer credentials, seafarers
typically a deracinated and not fully ma- are more likely to find a management position
ture male needing to be brought back into at a shipping or crewing company ashore. Pro-
village life. . . . [The] kallan [is] the anti-so- viding financial security was certainly seen as
cial individualist who, refusing to honor a way of caring for their family (cf. D. McKay
social obligations remains asocial and de- 2007), but working ashore was seen as more
racinated. [The] figure of the householder honorable and made seafarers available to care
[encompasses] the ideal of the successful, for the extended family in ways that were not
social, mature man: a head of a household possible when working for months at sea. But
holding substantial personal wealth, sup- without this form of reciprocity, the bottom fell
porting dependents and helping many cli- out of the social security network. Labor arbi-
ents. (Osella and Osella 2000: 118) trage works, not because “same skills, different
prices” (Ong 2006: 160) but because these inti-
I find these categories helpful because of how mate familial agreements accompany seafarers
they are linked. Hardik, Dulal, and Sachiv all on board, where they remain contained but pro-
started out as young, unmarried seafarers whose ductive (See Schober, this issue, for another take
education was paid for by their parents. They on family ties and shipping).
went to work at sea in order to earn money.
They were all gulfan: uprooted, with few re- Re-interpreting tradition
sponsibilities, earning sizable salaries. In 2013,
Dulal was about to marry and Hardik and Sa- Hardik also bought a house, but he would not be
chiv were just recently married, indicating an moving there with his parents. His father sug-
adult position. Hardik was about to become a gested that he and his wife move away from the
father, adding another layer to his adult identity. joint family home for some time. Hardik and his
But because they spent a lot of time away from parents enjoy a harmonious relationship, but
home, becoming “fully mature” was difficult. because Hardik was home for just a few months“Nowhere near Somalia, Mom” | 49
a year, his father explained, he did not know global market: good seafarers, just cheaper. But
much about running a home. So far, his parents the motivation to work at sea holds a contradic-
have handled family finances and home mainte- tion. Seafaring is a dangerous job, and maritime
nance, but his father wanted him to move away piracy represented an acute danger to Hardik
so that he could learn to be an adult man, hus- and his friends’ well-being and even survival.
band, and father. Taking such risks secures their ability to provide
I have stayed in contact with Hardik, and he for their families economically, but taking these
has since moved into a new home nearby with risks also jeopardizes this ability. In order to
his wife and their young child. He told me, “Ac- containerize themselves for the global maritime
tually, [I’m] learning a lot. About some taxes, industry, to shape themselves into recognizable
water bills, electricity bills, TV bills. . . .” His rel- maritime labor commodities, they suppressed
atives had been critical, having assumed that he certain aspects of their personal lives as seafar-
and his parents were “not on good terms.” But ers, such as their emotions or the unequal ways
his father advised him “to not bother. It’s your in which they were educated. At the same time,
life and our life. We know better.” In the mean- this suppression was intimately entangled with
time, he too is beginning to look for work on their need, as good men, sons, husbands, and
land so that he can be closer to his family. fathers, to hide the dangerous aspects of their
work from their loved ones at home. Through
Simmel, I demonstrated how this form of dis-
The gendered work of honesty was productive of their central familial
containing existential risk relations: this enabled them to “console, sus-
tain [and] to reproduce family ties and roles”
In my retelling of a series of events with three (Simmel 1906: 447), but it also made it possible
young Indian seafarers from a small town along for their families to continue to care for them
the eastern coast of India, I have suggested that in ways that were honored and recognizable in
local masculinity norms, kinship ties, and age their community. Sachiv’s story illustrated how
are, contrary to a Taylorian view, very much rel- delicate and precarious a balance this is. Telling
evant to labor and production in the global mar- Hardik’s, Dulal’s, and Sachiv’s stories from this
itime supply chain. Leaning on the container perspective charts the deeply personal connec-
as metaphor, I showed how these personal el- tions between the coming of age among young
ements are contained—understood doubly as Indian seafarers and the seemingly smooth
suppressed by and comprising of—and contain- mechanisms of a global industry that moves 90
erized—a taming of inconsistently shaped com- percent of everything we consume on earth.
modities through standardization processes.
The tenuous oscillation between containeriza-
tion and containment enabled Hardik and his Acknowledgments
friends to sustain their families economically
and provide the industry with a steady stream The research presented in this article was funded
of labor. by the University of Copenhagen, the Danish
In a place where lack of material security is Ministry for Research and Innovation, and Sea-
on daily display, Indian seafarers recognized health Denmark. This article is dedicated in
the opportunity that the maritime industry of- gratitude to the memory of Dr. Birgitte Refslund
fered them to provide material security for their Sørensen.
families. By inserting themselves into the global
maritime labor supply chain, they were contain-
erized as labor commodities, making themselves Adrienne Mannov received her PhD from the
comparable and, thus, competitive goods on a Department of Anthropology at Copenhagen50 | Adrienne Mannov
University, Denmark, and as of 2021, she will times paid when risks or extra labor present
take on an assistant professorship at Aarhus themselves.
University, Denmark, at the Department of An- 7. The Hindi term kallan is sometimes used de-
thropology. Her research interests focus on glo- rogatorily in reference to a thief. Many thanks
balization and material, physical, and existential to my seafaring colleague, Amit, for explaining
this linguistic nuance.
security. She has carried out ethnographic re-
search on the effects of maritime piracy on
merchant seafarers, the technical development
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