Dealing with Tiredness

The captain says that he had heard good reports from the boatswain about his (John’s) work and was happy that John was coming to the bridge regularly. ‘The last cadet did not do that’ he says to the chief, ‘but John has been good, he comes up even when he is tired.’ The captain smiles and nods, before heading over to his computer station to send some emails to the office. Now that the ship is at sea, he can catch up with some of the administrative tasks. (Vignette 4)

In vignette 4 above, John is praised by the captain for heading up to the bridge after his day-work despite being tired. The praise by the captain for doing good work on the deck and coming up to the bridge shows the willingness to provide opportunities for participation as a response to proactivity from the cadet. In the vignette above, this willingness to provide opportunities for participation is seen when the captain does not question John’s participation on the bridge, rather he praises him for coming there. The bridge is the center for the practices of navigation on board, which are essential to the identity of being a deck officer because the primary duty of a deck officer is being in charge of the navigational watch on the ship. Hence, learning the practices of navigation is critical for cadets’ inbound trajectory towards becoming deck officers and as such

going to the bridge becomes an important aspect of the transition. However, opportunities to go up to the bridge might not be a part of the duties given to the cadets, so the cadets usually head to the bridge once they have completed their work for the day. Through the data, it was noted that one of the key reasons for the cadets not to head up to the bridge to learn the practices of navigation was the tiredness from the day work, as is exemplified in the extract below.

Once his captain asked him, “why don’t you come up to the bridge?” He states, “After working for 12 hours on deck, and cleaning the accommodation I was too tired to go on the bridge”. (MV-Sea Line Field Notes in conversation with a deck officer)

In the example above, the body constrains the cadet’s participation on board. Due to tiredness, he is unable or unwilling to go to the bridge. A similar theme was noted by Michel (2011) who, in her study of investment bankers, notes that after four years the bankers treated their bodies as antagonists. In her case, the bankers lost control over their bodies; they could no longer work the bodies as hard and long as they were used to. The bodies seemed to retaliate, there were physical break-downs, and nervous habits were developed. She notes that the ‘the body caused cultural distance because it prevented full participation’ (Michel, 2011: 349). At this stage, some continued to fight the antagonistic body while others learned to listen to it and the body became a subject (Michel, 2011). In the case of the cadets, tiredness or perceived tiredness also led to lack of participation opportunities; hence, the body also plays an antagonistic role on board. This means that the body becomes a constraint (it becomes tired) that needs to be overcome in order to participate. However, in most cases where cadets did gain access to participation on the bridge, they stated that they went up to the bridge, or performed tasks despite being tired. By overcoming tiredness, the cadets show that they are available to perform tasks. In doing so, they position themselves as participants, albeit

peripheral, to the established community of practitioners on board. This is demonstrated in the example below, where the officer, reminiscing on his time as a cadet notes the importance of showing an eagerness to learn by asking for opportunities and backing that with performing when the opportunities were given.

I: So how did you show him that you were eager to learn?

I17-O8: Yes, first I asked the officer and the second is I really do it. I am not saying that no, I am tired, I need to rest.

I: So even after you have finished your watch or whatever it is after you finished work for the day you would go on the bridge?

I17-O8: One hour it is enough, one hour thirty minutes is enough. You learn something. So, at that time, the captain said to me okay, this guy is very, very good because he wants to learn so I will give a chance and I grab it and then I do everything the officer told me this one, this one, do it like this, okay. He said okay.

In the example above, the proactivity is performed in two ways; first by asking the officers for the opportunity to learn, and second by overcoming tiredness to go up to the bridge after finishing the day work. For the cadet, even one hour, or one hour and thirty minutes are enough for learning. Once the more experienced members are aware of the intention to learn as well as the proactivity of dealing with tiredness, they are willing to provide the opportunities for participation. Here we can also note the result of proactivity on access negotiation. Body work in the form of overcoming tiredness can initiate the process of negotiating access as it creates the interaction between the newcomers and the old-timers that show the intention to participate and the willingness the allow the participation. The old-timers’ willingness to provide access to participation provides opportunities for the newcomers to see ‘the embodied exemplars’ of what the cadets are seeking to become (Lave, 1996: 153).

Another aspect of dealing with tiredness involves knowing when to rest the body. Part of being able to perform as a competent practitioner is to rest the body in order to enable a competent performance at a later time. Resting, then, becomes proactivity when it acts as a deterrent against tiredness. Here, going back to Michel’s (2011:22) study, the body becomes a ‘subject that could guide actions,’ that is, the cadets listen to the demands of the body and act accordingly. The body then becomes not something to fight against or overcome, but rather the cadets listen to the needs of the body. The cadets need to decide when resting inhibits participation and when it helps prepare the body for future participation. An example of this is detailed below. The cadet notes the difficulty of staying awake and alert as a consequence of lack of sleep due to the commercial pressures on board. As such, during rest hours, the cadets need to learn to exercise judgement as to how to use the time, whether to use it to rest or to go ashore.

I: And what would you say was the most challenging or the most difficult aspect of your time at sea?

I5-C3: Hmm. That would be to stay awake and be alert. Because the job at the sea and somehow you don’t sleep, although we have many rules regarding this resource, these rules are not followed because of commercial pressure

I: So, you had ports quite close to each other, and then you have to keep […] Okay.

I5-C3: Yeah, you have to be alert every time and manage your time, your rest hours, that is the most difficult part, whether you choose to rest or you choose to go out at the port.

I: So, what did you choose? I5-C3: I choose to rest. [laughs]

Regarding body work, the above example shows that rather than going out when in port, the cadet chose to rest. Deciding to rest the body so that it is alert for work is a form of body work. This judgement is of particular

importance when resting time becomes a scarce recourse on board. In this sense, inaction through resting enables future proactivity.

Overcoming tiredness also allows the cadets to perform tasks to the standards required by the community of practice.

I: So how did that come about? How did they start letting you work on the equipment?

I5-C3: Well, I showed them that I could operate this equipment and I showed them that I could manage, I understand what I am doing, and I am very careful to do what they are doing and very attentive to what they are doing.

I: So when did you start noticing that it got easier to do certain tasks? I5-C3: When I can say that I can, when I can do it like them, when I don’t get tired easily, just like them. Because at first, I get tired easily because I’m doing heavy jobs, lifting something, doing something, it’s … I get tired easily, unlike them, I can see that they are so powerful in doing things. Later on, I can show them that I am just like them.

In the example the cadet judges that he is performing to the standards of the community because he does not get tired, just like them (the officers). Furthermore, he shows that he was able to understand the principles behind the task he was performing and he was able to imitate the performance of the old-timers. By observing what the officers or the crew are doing the cadet can understand and remember the procedures. Additionally, he “does what they are doing”. In the previous chapter, we saw that the cadets needed to know why at the training center and needed to know how on board the ship. The imitation of the old-timer’s performance shows this ‘know how’; it involves ‘complex micro-social interactions in which language, observation and workmanship mix and merge’ (Gherardi & Nicolini, 2002: 206).

There are two aspects of skillfulness demonstrated above; one is a task- based component; that is, the cadet is proactively “showing them” that he could operate the equipment, and “being very careful to do what they do,” in order to perform the task correctly. The second aspect of performance is imitation. Through imitation the cadets show that they are bodily and cognitively able to accomplish the task through “understanding” and through not getting tired “just like them.” Skillfulness through imitation then becomes a way in which cadets can show that, given a chance, they can be skillful in the trajectory. In the example above, we also see the willingness to allow participation from the old-timers as a response to overcoming tiredness. The old-timers let the cadet work with the equipment after seeing that he could operate it to the standards required by the community.