Category Archives: Blog

Khalid Syaifullah & Wardatul Adawiah: Asking, and Asking Again: Understanding the Roots of Ecological Disasters in Sumatra

Amid the outpouring of public solidarity for the victims of floods and landslides in Sumatra, one development deserves close attention. The term “natural disaster,” long used to describe such events, is increasingly being questioned and replaced with a more political framing. This shift has gained significant traction on social media. Rather than calling these events […]

Giorgos Poulimenakos: (Con)fusing geoeconomics and geopolitics: Logistics fetishism and infrastructural speculation on the waterfronts of Western Attica

The appointment of a female former TV persona as the new U.S. ambassador to Greece drew some derisive, if not openly sexist, comments. Such a choice by President Trump, the analysts pointed out, is symptomatic of Greece’s supposed marginality within U.S. strategic priorities. However, Kimberly Guilfoyle’s first statements upon arriving in Greece suggested precisely the […]

Ahmad Moradi: Iran, Year 1404: Chronicles of Planned Chaos

No, dear Rira,my letter must be short,must be simple,with no talk of ambiguity or mirrors.I will write to you again:We are all well—but do not believe me. (Ali Salehi, Iranian poet) The Sense of an Ending — April 26, 2025 Thick black smoke is rising over the port of Bandar Abbas, where Iran’s largest port […]

Ana Ivasiuc: ‘I can’t explain, you need to see for yourself’: Matters and senses of insecurity in the campi nomadi of Rome

‘What is it like to work with Roma?’ I asked the police officer. He gestured widely, shaking his head and raising his arms and shoulders, suggesting that words could not describe what he was trying to convey. ‘You would have to seefor yourself. Once you see how they live, how they smell, what the camp […]

Erella Grassiani and Nir Gazit: The Smell of Fear, The Sound of Relief: Sensing War in Israel/Palestine

As we write this, in January 2026, there is, theoretically speaking, a ceasefire in place in Gaza. Unfortunately, this does not mean that the war, the genocide, the violence, and horrors have come to a stop as Israel is breaching the ceasefire on a daily basis. Violence and death are still omnipresent in Gaza and […]

Ståle Knudsen: The Invisible Hard Toilers of The Green Transition in The Maritime Sector: Shipyard Workers in Turkey

How do companies handle responsibilities to people and the environment when they operate abroad? What tools do they use, and what are the effects? These have been throughgoing concerns in my work during the last 10-15 years of research in Turkey. I have investigated how the ‘corporate social responsibility’ work of Austrian energy company OMV […]

Alice McAlpine-Riddell: Zap, Dazzle and Pink! The Aesthetic and Vibrant Enchantment of Tasers

It is the summer of 2022, and I am volunteering with Wes at a queer multi-purpose community space in Brooklyn, New York City. The space is bright pink, adorned with colourful rainbow motifs, hand-painted floating clouds, and neon signage. Today, our responsibilities are to keep the space open for community members to hang out and […]

Maja Sisnowski: Gut Feeling, Adrenaline and Fried Onions: Sensing Aggression in German Health and Welfare Services

“I don’t know how to explain it”, Caro told me in an interview, “but you develop a sense [Gespür] for when you can keep standing in front of the person, because you know: Okay, they are going to shout at you for ten minutes, and then they have used the valve that they needed. And […]

Aaron Kappeler: On the Kidnapping of a President

Anyone who knows Venezuela knows that things happen fast there. It is a function of the hectic pace of urban life in a society that is highly subject to the play of global energy markets. It is also a feature of the nation’s position in the world system––one in which imperial powers are always ready […]

Laust Lund Elbek: Sniffing Out Trouble? What and how the ‘Police Nose’ Smells

Suspicion appears to sit largely in the nose: we might say that something ‘stinks,’ ‘smells off,’ that we ‘smell a rat,’ or perhaps ‘something fishy.’ Such suspicious smells may, in turn, compel us to ‘sniff out trouble’—at least until we ‘lose the scent.’ While these metaphors can seem curious or quirky at first sight, they […]