An Investigation of Stories, Narratives and Alternatives to Plastic in Cambodia

This postdoctoral fellowship investigates the potential of a group of traders and producers of processed food goods to act as drivers of plastic-free asset-based community development in Hanchey, Cambodia. The research examines local modes of valuation and the ways that productivity and efficiency are embodied. Grand narratives of modernity, including the embodiment of plastic in everyday life, will be set against and elicit small narratives, such as those embodied in attachments to traditional modes of production and packaging which have been significantly displaced. These may be contrasted to narratives embodied by “scalable solutions” to plastic, such as reusable aluminium water bottles and biodegradable polymer bags made with cassava starch.

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Funding: The Seed Box, A Mistra-Formas Environmental Humanities Collaboratory

Period: 2018-2019

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The Institute for Culture and Society is located in Parramatta, “the place where the eel sets down” in Dharug language,
along the north bank of the Parramatta River. It sits on the traditional lands and waters of the Burramattagal people of the Dharug Nation,
who have been stewards and caretakers of these territories since time immemorial, in what today is referred to as Greater Western Sydney,
one of the most diverse cultural communities in the world and home to the largest number of Indigenous Australians in the country.
The Institute for Culture and Society acknowledges the Dharug, Eora, Dharawal (also referred to as Tharawal)
and Wiradjuri peoples as traditional custodians and Indigenous knowledge-holders, whose storytelling serve
as historical record, a form of teaching and learning, a way to care for Country,
and an expression of Indigenous culture and identity.