This thesis examines data collected during the salvage of the cargo of a merchant ves-sel foundered in the Java Sea, by a short inscription in a fragment of a bowl and coins dat-ed to around 970 CE. The wreck’s position indicates that the ship was on her way to the island of Java; the verssel herself belongs into the so called ‘lashed-lug and doweled’, Western Austronesian (‘Malayo-Indonesian’) tradition of boat-building. The surviving cargo ranges from Chinese stonewares and Southeast Asian ceramics to Middle Eastern glassware, tin and lead from –proposedly– the Malay Archipelago, and a wide variety of “smaller finds”, most of which can be attributed to the broader area of the western Indian Ocean. The find palpably demonstrates the far-reaching and well-institutionalised trade rela-tions throughout early medieval Asia. It is often assumed that pre-modern Asian com-merce was largely organised in small-scale ventures, the so called “pedlar trade”, and a number of sources indicate structural features of the ships facilitating this commerce that could have supported such a “particularised” exchange. However, a critical assessment of the composition and distribution of the ship’s payload and a virtual reconstruction of the ship and her initial loading pattern reveal that the vessel’s ceramic cargo in all probability was not acquired, handled, and bound to be marketed as a particularised “peddling” ven-ture, but managed by a single authority. The huge amount of ceramics carried on the ves-sel raises questions regarding frequency, volume and modus operandi of maritime ex-changes in tenth-century Southeast Asia, implying that the ship’s tragic voyage was but an attempt at instituting a virtual monopoly in such trade.

The defeats suffered by the Qing Empire in the two Opium Wars revealed to the Chinese how their traditional armed forces were incapable of defending the country against Western aggressors. In the second half of the nineteenth century, a group of Chinese elites advocated that China needed to strengthen herself by pursuing a degree of military modernisation which, in effect, meant Westernisation. Under the banner of ‘Chinese learning for fundamental structure, Western learning for practical use’, a substantial Western-style steam navy was established and was considered one of the most powerful in East Asia. Yet despite this huge effort, this force invariably failed to fulfil its task of safeguarding the empire. The central argument of this dissertation is that the failure of the Chinese steam navy was inevitable, primarily because of the Qing Empire’s ‘fundamental structure’ being incompatible with the requirements of a modern steam navy. China in the second half of the nineteenth century was characterised by autocratic Manchu rule, decentralisation of provincial authorities, self-sufficient agrarian economy, and a social elite consisting of Confucian scholars. This research analyses in detail how such a ‘fundamental structure’ affected the development of the Chinese naval power in the facets of the statesmen behind the navy, the naval officer corps, the building and acquisition of ships and the way in which the naval power was used. On this basis, the dissertation draw the conclusion that a ‘fundamental structure’ such as that of the Qing Empire was not conducive to producing a powerful navy, and that the defeat of that navy was inevitable and not accidental. This research examines the development of the Chinese steam navy against the history of the nation during the late nineteenth century, and employs existing literature on seapower for analytical guidance. The main body of the dissertation is based on published and unpublished primary sources.

This thesis proposes an experimental sensory ethnographic approach to investigate the phenomenon of cruise ship tourism, from an ashore perspective, with cruise terminals and their surroundings as key nodes to my research. My focus is on how these aquamobilities – as I designate them - are performed in, interact with, and co-produce, the places visited. The main aim of this thesis is to contribute with liveliness (Back, 2012a; Back and and Puwar, 2012) to visual sociology scholarship, and to bring further knowledge on an understudied mobilities phenomenon. Walking, photographing, and doing sound recordings, were the main practices mobilized in the (uneven) engagement with field places, complemented with participant observation, interviews and informal conversations. My multi-sited fieldwork was based in Lisbon (for six months), Barcelona (for three months), and included shorter periods in Tilbury, Dover, Bergen/Oslo, and Le Havre. A set of visual and aural materials gathered along this journey, key along the research process are, also, part of this thesis, as alternative, evidential and evocative, paths to knowledge. Theoretically, this work is framed by the new mobilities paradigm (Urry, 2000; Sheller and Urry, 2006b; Sheller, 2014), but further critical social sciences literature is mobilized, mostly with regards to post-industrial port cities and their waterfronts (Hoyle, 1994, 2000; Sieber, 1991; Chaline and Malta, 1994; Schubert, 2008), and to cruise ship tourism (Wood, 2002, 2006; Weaver, 2006; Chin, 2008; Clancy, 2008). Based on my empirical research, I will problematize the common understanding of infrastructures as fixed and immobile prevailing in the new mobilities paradigm (Hannam, Sheller, and Urry, 2006), arguing that cruise terminal infrastructures are rather elastic, dynamic, and partly mobile infrastructures. This research foregrounds both the everyday practices and long-term transformations that cruise aquamobilities are bringing to post-industrial port-cities – through new social, material, spatial and temporal dynamics.

Cette recherche concerne la caractérisation architecturale de bateaux fluviaux d'Afrique de l'Ouest et Équatoriale. Ils naviguent sur le Sénégal et le Niger ; sur l'Oubangui, le Chari et le lac Tchad, entre le XVIIe siècle et l'époque contemporaine. L'ensemble du réseau représente 8 000 kilomètres de voies de navigation intérieure. Trois bateaux archétypaux, la baleinière, le chaland et le sharpee, sont observés sur ce réseau. Ils suggèrent une relation entre l'Europe, l'Amérique et l'Afrique, trois « foyers de traditions » réunis par l'Océan Atlantique. Manuscrits, récits de voyageurs, plans, cartes, publications contemporaines, documents iconographiques sont examinés en détail, de même que la Baleinière du Chari conservée au Musée des troupes de marine, à Fréjus, France. L'analyse porte sur les bateaux, la mobilité aquatique, les raisons de cette mobilité et son intelligence pratique. Elle détaille les traditions nautiques vernaculaires et examine leur rapport de convenance avec le milieu naturel et les besoins humains quotidiens. Histoire et ethnographie permettent de déterminer la localisation, la généalogie, l'architecture, la fonctionnalité, l'usage des bateaux. Le résultat élucide le processus de métissage culturel et technique de la baleinière, du chaland et du sharpee. L'enquête ethnographique confirme l'héritage valorisé du chaland sablier construit actuellement près de la ville de Bamako. / In the present study, three archetypal boats called baleinière, chaland and sharpee are observed in the west area and the equatorial area of Africa. They sail on the rivers of Sénégal, and Niger ; on Oubangui, Chari and Chad lake, between seventeenth century and contemporary period. The whole of waterways measure eight thousand kilometres of Iength. The three previous occurrences suggest a relationship between Europe, America and Africa, these continents linked by Atlantic ocean, are called "foyers of traditions". Manuscripts, stories of the first voyagers, publications, plans, charts, iconography are examined. Then, the collector's item of baleinière du Chari showed in Musée des troupes de marine, Fréjus, France is looked over in detail. The study analyses the architectural characteristics of boats, the aquatic mobility, the reasons of this mobility and the intelligence put into practice. It makes an inventory of vernacular nautical traditions and examines their harmony with natural environment and the daily life of men. Geography, history, ethnography allow to determine local area, genesis, architecture, functionality, and the use of boats. The result elucidates the process of cultural and technical mix of baleinière, chaland and sharpee. The ethnographic survey substantiates the genesis of chaland sablier currently built nearly Bamako city.