International Searfarers and Transnationalism in the Twenty-First Century by Helen Sampson

Book review

It is hard to imagine an industry as globalized as merchant shipping, and yet the 1.5 million seafarers employed within it are largely absent from scholarly discussions of transnationalism. This book, which assesses whether international seafarers are transnational and why it matters, is hence overdue. Drawing on fieldwork at sea and in India and Germany, Helen Sampson evaluates the extent to which seafarers are ‘embedded’ within the social life of ships, on the one hand, and within communities on land, on the other. In addressing this question, she attends primarily to the structural factors that impact upon seafarers' ability to integrate into ‘communities’ aboard and ashore. Her verdict, while measured, is bleak.