ABSTRACT

Either imagined as spaces of cosmopolitan circulation and exchange or mechanised logistics hubs, ports are central sites to theorise the historical origins of capitalism and its contemporary manifestations and futures. We know little, however, of the processes through which ports come into being and the varied ways in which they sustain their centrality. Locating itself in three port-cities along the maritime chokepoint of the Bab-el-Mandeb and focusing on the circulation and capture of objects as disparate as ambergris, goats, and oil, this article emphasises how port making (and unmaking), through the channelling of circulation, entails the transformation of littoral spaces into chokepoints – nodes of circulation, but equally importantly of capture and constriction. A focus on port-making as chokepoint making renders in active voice the confluence of forces, from ecological to geopolitical, that give rise to ports as specific loci of regulatory powers as well the contingency and fragility of place-making.

摘要

无论是被想象成世界流通和交流的空间，还是机械化的物流枢纽，港口都是理论化资本主义历史起源及其当代表现形式和未来的中心场所。然而，我们对港口形成的过程以及它们维持其中心地位的各种方式知之甚少。位于 Bab-el-Mandeb 海上咽喉要道沿线的三个港口城市，重点关注龙涎香、山羊和石油等截然不同的物品的流通和捕获，这篇文章强调了港口建设（和破坏）如何通过循环通道，需要将沿岸空间转变为阻塞点——循环节点，但同样重要的是捕获和收缩。专注造港阻塞点制造以主动语态呈现从生态到地缘政治的各种力量的汇合，这些力量使港口成为监管权力的特定场所以及场所营造的偶然性和脆弱性。