Logistics as Global Governance: Labour, Software and Infrastructure Along the New Silk Road

China is building a New Silk Road. It is set to revolutionise relations of trade and production, linking Asia to Europe and Latin America. This project investigates the cultural and social transformations introduced by this emerging economic network. Focusing on three key infrastructural hubs (the ports of Piraeus, Valparaíso and Kolkata), the project will advance understandings of how logistical processes manage labour forces and contribute to global governance. Digital methods will be used to: 1) build innovative platforms for broadening debates and research practices concerning software, labour and globalisation, and 2) provide a 'serious game' to illustrate changing scenarios of work and culture along the New Silk Road.

Researchers: Professor Brett Neilson and Professor Ned Rossiter from the Institute for Culture and Society with Professor Ursula Huws, Professor William Walters, Professor Ranabir Samaddar, Associate Professor Sandro Mezzadra, Dr Eleni Kambouri and Dr Hernan Cuevas

Funding: Australian Research Council (opens in a new window), Discovery Project

Period: 2013-2017 (continuing)

Website: Logistical Worlds: Infrastructure, Software, Labour (opens in a new window)

» Fact sheet (opens in a new window)(PDF, 187KB)

Projects

Research at ICS

People at ICS

Contact ICS

Contact ICS

The Institute for Culture and Society is located in Parramatta, “the place where the eel sets down” in Dharug language,
along the north bank of the Parramatta River. It sits on the traditional lands and waters of the Burramattagal people of the Dharug Nation,
who have been stewards and caretakers of these territories since time immemorial, in what today is referred to as Greater Western Sydney,
one of the most diverse cultural communities in the world and home to the largest number of Indigenous Australians in the country.
The Institute for Culture and Society acknowledges the Dharug, Eora, Dharawal (also referred to as Tharawal)
and Wiradjuri peoples as traditional custodians and Indigenous knowledge-holders, whose storytelling serve
as historical record, a form of teaching and learning, a way to care for Country,
and an expression of Indigenous culture and identity.