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Plastic Matter. By Heather Davis
Summary
This review examines Heather Davis's book 'Plastic Matter,' which argues that plastic has become so pervasive -- including in human blood, as newly documented research at the time of publication confirmed -- that it now fundamentally shapes contemporary human and non-human relations, raising questions of inheritance and ecological intimacy. The reviewer situates the book within the growing body of scientific evidence on ubiquitous plastic contamination, including the landmark discovery of microplastics in human blood.
Within the same month that Plastic Matter appeared, a study published in Environmental International revealed that scientists have found microplastics in human blood for the first time in history. The ubiquity of plastic and its messy human/non-human relations frame this book where author Heather Davis argues that “plastic creates the contemporary world” (11). Plastic generates critical questions of “inheritance” and “intimacy” Davis contends, because whether we want it or not, plastic can now be found in every corner of the earth and is something we all inherit. Plastic Matter asks: What does it mean to have inherited this type of a world, and what does the intergenerational transfer of plastic mean? What might be done with the material inheritances that we would rather not possess? Employing a methodological approach that thinks with and through plastic, Davis links the pervasiveness of plastic to Western conceptions of matter as subject to unlimited...