Below deck on the "Love Boat": intimate relationships between cruise ship workers in a globalized environment
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Date
2012-08-14
Authors
Forsythe, Susan
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Abstract
This study was conceptualized from my own experience working on board cruise ships
and from the lack of studies of relationships on board cruise ships. This thesis examines
the question: how does globalization in the form of accelerated capitalism and inter-
connectedness through the sharing of food and drink across national identities that takes
place in the space of cruise ships affect intimate relationships of cruise employees?
Through the examinations of narratives of nine ex-crewmembers, developed through
qualitative interviews, by using both the phenomenological and narrative methodology a
couple of prominent themes appeared. The interviewees described working on a cruise
ship as “intense” and the passage of time appears faster on board ship. It appears
throughout the narratives, the nature of accelerated capitalism in the cruise ship industry
affects the way the majority conduct their relationships.
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Keywords
social anthropology, cruise ships, relationships, transnational workers, intimacy, accelerated capitalism, time-space compression