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100 _aHaugen, Heidi Østbø
_946842
245 _aSocial production of container space
260 _bSage,
_c2019.
300 _aVol 37, Issue 5, 2019 (868-885 p.)
520 _aA sizable body of popular and academic literature explores how containers have reconstituted the spaces through which they travel. However, the space within containers remains largely unexamined. This article leverages the concepts of “earmarking” and “pressure” to analyze the space within containers as socially produced rather than arithmetically defined. The analysis draws upon an ethnographic study of container freight from China to Africa. Earmarking describes the practice of attaching segments of shipment space to specific sets of social relations, which in turn defines appropriate usage of the space and bestows it with economic value. African traders earmark space in containers shipped from China as a way to manage their capital in volatile economic environments. Logistics agents apply physical pressure to goods as they are loaded in containers in South China. The practice—made possible by the material characteristics of the container—disrupts the relationship between the container’s measurements and the shipment volumes sold, and generates asymmetries across modes of calculating space. Application of pressure renders the relation between containers and goods unstable and shipments vulnerable during customs inspections. Opening the container space for analysis reveals how China’s successful logistics integration with Africa relies heavily on political tolerance for disorder and localized solutions. Keywords
650 _aLogistics,
_946784
650 _acontainer,
_946843
650 _aearmarking,
_946844
650 _aChina,
_946845
650 _apressure,
_946846
650 _a production of space
_946847
773 0 _08875
_915874
_dLondon Pion Ltd. 2010
_tEnvironment and planning D:
_x1472-3433
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1177/0263775818822834
942 _2ddc
_cART