ABSTRACT

The mobilities literature often draws on a maritime vocabulary, but has more seldom engaged with the everyday lives of maritime workers. With ninety percent of all goods transported by sea, seafarers literally move the world. Since the 1970s, Filipino sailors in particular have emerged as the most important nationality within this global mobile labor force. Often facing discrimination, racialized representations and obstacles to social mobility onboard their moving worksites, these workers draw on certain vernacular narratives to claim historical authenticity and a natural propensity to seafaring, thereby justify their right to belong in contemporary shipping. This article uses ethnography from onboard cargo ships and ashore in the Philippines to show how such narratives themselves become forces of production for the mobile labor of Filipino seafarers. Drawing on Cresswell’s concept of ‘constellations of mobility,’ the article explores how the mobile labor of Filipino seafarers is narrated as geographically and historically formed and how this shapes Filipino seafarers’ everyday experiences onboard ships today. By critically examining the historical production of maritime labor, as well as its contemporary social reproduction through such narratives, this ethnography of Filipino seafarers’ ‘mobile labor’ shows the coproduction of labor, racialization and mobility in the shipping industry.

摘要

流动性文献经常借鉴海事词汇，但很少涉及海事工人的日常生活。海上运输的所有货物中有90％都是由海员带动的。自1970年代以来，尤其是菲律宾水手已成为全球流动劳动力中最重要的国籍。这些工人经常在移动的工地上面临歧视，种族化的表现以及社会流动的障碍，这些工人利用某些白话叙事来声称历史真实性和航海的自然倾向，从而证明他们享有当代航运的权利是正当的。本文使用菲律宾货船上和菲律宾岸上的人种志来说明这种叙事本身如何成为菲律宾海员流动劳动力的生产力量。文章基于Cresswell的“机动性星座”概念，探讨了菲律宾海员的流动劳动力如何在地理和历史上得到叙述，以及这如何塑造菲律宾海员今天在船上的日常经历。通过批判性地考察海事劳工的历史生产以及通过此类叙述的当代社会再生产，菲律宾海员“流动劳工”的民族志显示了航运业中劳动力的共同生产，种族化和流动性。文章探讨了菲律宾海员的流动劳动力如何在地理和历史上进行叙述，以及这如何塑造菲律宾海员今天在船上的日常经历。通过批判性地考察海事劳工的历史生产以及通过此类叙述的当代社会再生产，菲律宾海员“流动劳工”的民族志显示了航运业中劳动力的共同生产，种族化和流动性。文章探讨了菲律宾海员的流动劳动力如何在地理和历史上进行叙述，以及这如何塑造菲律宾海员今天在船上的日常经历。通过批判性地考察海事劳工的历史生产以及通过此类叙述的当代社会再生产，菲律宾海员“流动劳工”的民族志显示了航运业中劳动力的共同生产，种族化和流动性。