InsurgenSeas
InsurgenSeas
Podcast Description
Dr. Nikolas Kosmatopoulos, political anthropologist and founder of the InsurgenSeas project, sets the stage for a new conversation about oceans and politics. Drawing from years of academia and activism across the Mediterranean, he reflects on how the sea, often seen as empty space or a border to be policed, can be reimagined as a site of radical possibility.
Why turn to the sea at all? What does it mean to think politically from the waterline? Through stories, historical traces, and theoretical provocations, Kosmatopoulos invites listeners into an oceanic way of seeing: one that connects frontline struggles, defies state control, and opens space for new forms of solidarity.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on the intersection of oceans and politics, covering topics such as collective action at sea, historical movements like the Gaza Freedom Flotillas, and broader themes of sovereignty and solidarity. Episodes explore struggles related to oceanic rights and community activism, illustrating the transformative potential of maritime spaces.
Dr. Nikolas Kosmatopoulos, political anthropologist and founder of the InsurgenSeas project, sets the stage for a new conversation about oceans and politics. Drawing from years of academia and activism across the Mediterranean, he reflects on how the sea, often seen as empty space or a border to be policed, can be reimagined as a site of radical possibility.
Why turn to the sea at all? What does it mean to think politically from the waterline? Through stories, historical traces, and theoretical provocations, Kosmatopoulos invites listeners into an oceanic way of seeing: one that connects frontline struggles, defies state control, and opens space for new forms of solidarity.
In this episode of InsurgenSeas, we sit down with Daniel Powers, Lizzie Malcolm, and Stefanos Levidis to explore how the sea is being remapped from below.
Our conversation moves through the Flotilla Tracker as a tool of maritime activism: who builds and uses it, who it serves, and how it circulates within networks of solidarity. We trace the origins and ambitions of Forensic Architecture, unpacking its methods and political commitments to evidentiary practice against state violence. Together, we reflect on the power of mapping to make movements at sea visible, while questioning how visibility itself is shaped by the state’s surveillance gaze and migrant “mobility tracking.”
Turning to the tragic Pylos shipwreck, Stefanos shares insights into documentation efforts and the challenges of contesting state narratives and legal obfuscation surrounding responsibility for mass death at sea. The discussion broadens to “mapping from below”, who these counter-mapping practices serve, who their allies are, and how they reconfigure the terrain of struggle across maritime borders.
Finally, we pause to reflect critically on mapping as an aesthetic practice: does it risk beautifying suffering and movement, or can it hold space for political urgency without flattening lived realities?
A conversation at once academic and human, this episode invites us to rethink the sea as a contested archive where evidence flow alongside currents of control.
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