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Accepted Paper:
The Moving Crane. Affective infrastructures and their resonances in global shipbuilding.
Minji Song
(University of California, Berkeley)
Elisabeth Schober
(University of Oslo)
We discuss the affective force behind "Tears of Malmö", the evocative nickname of a gantry crane that made its way from Malmö, Sweden to Ulsan, South Korea in 2002. Via two theatre plays, we analyze the moving crane's resonances in global shipbuilding as an example of “infrastructures of feeling”.
Paper Abstract:
“Tears of Malmö” is the evocative nickname of a gantry crane used in shipbuilding, which made its way from Malmö, Sweden to its new home in Ulsan, South Korea in 2002. By narrating the story of the crane, and the many rumors around it, we make a contribution to the anthropology of infrastructure and affect, adding our material to a growing literature that focuses on “infrastructures of feeling”. By looking into the emotional sway of the large-scale piece of metal that travelled across the world via the lens of two theatre plays, we consider the affective force behind the moving crane, which is a clear stand-in not just for the transformation and geographical dislocation of an entire industry, but also for the emotional turmoil caused by the invisibilization of labour on two continents.