How Cargo Ships Explain the World
On this episode of The Nation Podcast, Atossa Araxia Abrahamian talks about what one industry can teach us.
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How Cargo Ships Explain the World | The Nation Podcast
A hotel for Thatcher’s fallen soldiers in the Falkland Islands. A hospital for Rikers inmates. A home for workers in the offshore fossil fuel industry.
These are just a few of the past lives of “Jascon 27” – a Scandinavian ship that is the subject of writer Ian Kumekawa’s new book, Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge.
The Vessel is, of course, a ship that transports people and goods. But, as journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian notes, and Kumekawa’s book reveals, it is also a bellwether of political movements and economic shifts, and a symbol of “the whims and desires” of corporations, nations, and individuals alike.
Abrahamian wrote about Empty Vessel in the latest issue of The Nation. She’s an independent journalist who writes about the cracks within nation-states worldwide. She is also a former editor at The Nation and Al Jazeera America, and author of The Cosmoplites: The Coming of the Global Citizen and The Hidden Globe.
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A cargo ship is loading and unloading foreign trade containers at Qingdao Port in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China on June 16, 2025.
(CFOTO / Future Publishing via Getty Images)A hotel for Thatcher’s fallen soldiers in the Falkland Islands. A hospital for Rikers inmates. A home for workers in the offshore fossil fuel industry.
These are just a few of the past lives of “Jascon 27” – a Scandinavian ship that is the subject of writer Ian Kumekawa’s new book, Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge.
The Vessel is, of course, a ship that transports people and goods. But, as journalist Atossa Araxia Abrahamian notes, and Kumekawa’s book reveals, it is also a bellwether of political movements and economic shifts, and a symbol of “the whims and desires” of corporations, nations, and individuals alike.
Abrahamian wrote about Empty Vessel in the latest issue of The Nation. She’s an independent journalist who writes about the cracks within nation-states worldwide. She is also a former editor at The Nation and Al Jazeera America, and author of The Cosmoplites: The Coming of the Global Citizen and The Hidden Globe.
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The Nation Podcasts
Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.
The Cult of the Cybertruck with Maya Vinokour | The Nation Podcast
Perhaps no single object embodies our dystopian, oligarchical, ugly present more than the Cybertruck—the hulking spacecraft-cum-tank that Elon Musk has foisted on the world.
The Cybertruck is unpleasant to look at, unsafe to drive, and, judging from its anemic sales, unwanted by most of the public. It has been described as an even bigger flop than the infamous Ford Edsel.
But, as writer Maya Vinokour discovered, none of that seems to matter to the Cybertruck's most loyal fans. In "What Was the Cybertruck," a piece for our November issue, Vinokour journeyed deep into the heart of the small but fierce Cybertruck cult, and found a group of people (or, more accurately, men) eager to defend the car against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Our Sponsors:
* Check out Avocado Green Mattress: https://avocadogreenmattress.com
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