Winner, 2014 BBC Radio 4's Thinking Allowed inaugural award for ethnography, in association with the British Sociological Association

This ethnographic account of seafarers considers issues of transnationalism in the twenty-first century and discusses the detailed life experiences of migrant workers in this context. It argues for a consideration of the social space available to transnational migrant workers and suggests that the transnational experiences of migrants may be more likely to involve exclusion and alienation than an expansion of social space as a result of bi-location in more than one community.

Based upon original qualitative research in three different settings, the book draws upon voyages undertaken by the author on five different working cargo ships. It describes the situation of seafarers from Cape Verde and Ghana searching for work in northern Germany and considers the perspectives of women married to Indian seafarers resident in Goa and Mumbai.

This highly readable book will be of interest to readers from a variety of disciplines who are interested in ethnography, particularly in the fields of social sciences and humanities who are interested in issues of migration, transnationalism, work, the shipping industry and globalisation. It will also appeal to individuals with a connection to, or an interest in, the merchant navy.

This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life below water