The project was launched against the global backdrop of an escalating set of crises that were also centrally played out inside the main object of the study. In addition to causing significant longer-term disruptions at ports, the Covid19-pandemic also meant that our opportunities to conduct research around on these topics was massively impacted. In February 2021, Norway closed its international borders down, making all cross-border travel nearly impossible for those who were not residents in the country already until autumn 2021. Therefore, for the greater part of 2021 the Ports-team stayed scattered across various locations in the world, with the group jumpstarting its collaboration on digital platforms. An internal kick-off event was only held at University of Oslo in Sept. 2021, where all participants managed to get together and present their plans, working out first commonalities and resonances between the different sub-projects. In 2022, the group members then commenced fieldwork.
In addition to disruptions caused by Covid-19, the Suez Canal obstruction, the War on Ukraine, and now the energy crisis have all been emerging topics that have fundamentally affected ports worldwide. To address some of these challenges in a timely fashion, Elisabeth Schober, together with Hege Leivestad, published a paper in “Anthropology Today” in June 2021. It takes the Suez Canal incident as a starting point to reflect on the spectacular growth of container ships, and the hidden costs this development has had on ports. Schober and Leivestad also edited a series of short essays on the same topic, which came out as a Forum in the journal “History and Anthropology” in April 2022. This issue brings together eminent maritime anthropologists who engage with our modern-day dependencies on the just-in-time delivery model that the technologies of logistics have enabled.
Logistics, too, was the key term at a panel the group organized at the European Association for Social Anthropologists-biannual meeting (EASA2022). At this panel on “Logistical Transformations. Supply Chains and the Politics of Circulations” the focus was on how the global pandemic has come to highlight the fragility and volatility of supply chains: seafarers stranded at sea, delayed shipping containers, empty store shelves, shortages of truck drivers, energy issues at production centers, and a boom of door-to-door deliveries handled by exploited workers were some of the issues touched upon.
