The Eroticism of Logistics

Abstract

This article draws attention to the reproduction of logistical power in what is identified as the eroticism of logistics. Eroticism here describes the way that transmission is understood as a seamless conveyance of goods or an intimate communication across a surface. It is first argued that this eroticism is found in attempts to define modernity as logistical that ought to be rejected in favor of a more grounded account of rerouting. It is then demonstrated that this latter account best accommodates the findings of critical logistics studies, where logistical spaces are shown to be fractious and the movement of goods far from smooth. It is finally argued that while an erotic principle of transmission lends itself to a reductive account of logistics that sustains its violence, a postal account of transmission better captures the experience of getting the goods while situating logistics within a critical space.