In his newly published Empty Vessel, Harvard economic historian Ian Kumekawa tells the history of the global economy through a single barge: which throughout the 20th century served as a floating prison, military barracks, housing for migrant workers, serviced offshore oil rigs, and anything else the market demanded.
Ian Kumekawa joins us on WorldNow with Jim Falk to explore the making and offshoring of the modern global economy – from mass incarceration, tax havens, and fossil fuel extraction to military power and deregulation. We’ll also discuss what the story reveals about the global economy today and the administration’s increased use of offshore prisons, tariffs, and economic nationalism.
“Kumekawa gives us a ‘barge’s-eye view’ of what his protagonist witnessed…tracing how the vessel became a passive yet essential participant in a rapidly changing world. Empty Vessel joins a growing shelf of books about the new forms that globalization is taking” – Jennifer Szalai, New York Times
The Details:
When: Tuesday, June 24th | 7:00PM – 7:30PM ET
Where: Zoom Webinar
Tickets: No charge, suggested $20 Donation | RSVP Required
About the Book
Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge by Ian Kumekawa
The rise of globalization and financialization as seen from a barge—one Swedish barge, to be exact, built in 1979
What do a barracks for British troops in the Falklands War, a floating jail off the Bronx, and temporary housing for VW factory workers in Germany have in common? A single barge that served all three roles.
Empty Vessel follows the many lives of a barge—from floating jail to troopship—revealing how a single vessel housed soldiers, prisoners, and migrant workers, playing a role in mass incarceration, tax havens, military power, and fossil fuel extraction. Kumekawa has crafted an astounding, narrative-driven microhistory in which the forces of globalization converge on one barge, exposing the infrastructure behind the political economy of the late 20th century.
Kumekawa connects the barge’s different uses with shifts in the global economy, demonstrating how the Vessel came to represent tax havens, exploited labor forces, free banking zones, Thatcherism, Reaganomics, and mass incarceration. The result, as Eric Klinenberg puts it, is “a brilliant, unforgettable tale of our modern times.”
Get a copy of Empty Vessel on Bookshop.org to support your local bookstore.
Meet the Author
Ian Kumekawa is a historian of economic thinking and capitalism at the Center for History and Economics at Harvard University and a Lecturer at MIT. He is the author of The First Serious Optimist (2017), which examines the intellectual origins of welfare economics and won the Joseph J. Spengler Prize. He hails from Clinton, CT and now lives in Boston. Learn more about Ian here.
Meet the Host
Jim Falk is President Emeritus of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. Now residing in Santa Fe, NM, he is Vice Chairman of the Board of Global Santa Fe. In addition to hosting WorldNow with Jim Falk, Jim produces and hosts The Forum, a weekly talk show on KSFR-FM, Santa Fe Public Radio. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Hosts & Partners
WorldNow with Jim Falk is hosted by the World Affairs Council of Connecticut, Global Santa Fe, and the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth.
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