Plastics Are Strange Presences, and They Are Not Going Away Anytime Soon
By Chin Kar Yern
June 2023 FEATURE
WITHIN THE BEAUTY and bizarre logic of plastic is the potential it projects. It heralded multitudes of possibility in form, chemistry and design. The mass production of things post-World War II, the development of global supply chains and our rising dependence on oil in the 20th century spurred a different kind of thinking regarding the materiality of a product. Once seen as inefficient compared to other materials like wood, glass and metal, manufacturers now value plastics for their adaptability –...
Chin Kar Yern
is a researcher/writer with an interest in historical and anthropological perspectives of food, labour and community. He is a research associate at the Asia School of Business. He is writing a book about Malaysian food discourse, practices, and systems in the 1950s–60s.
