ABSTRACT

In the last decade, plastic pollution has emerged as a major global issue in public discourse. Nonetheless, there is little consensus on which aspects of plastics constitute the problem. In India, litter, unmanaged disposal, lack of biodegradation, wasteful resource use, threats to bodily integrity and the natural order, and national dishonour are all variously associated with ‘plastic pollution’. What exactly, then, does the term reference when used in various streams of public discourse, and what semantic transformations does this imply? Using India as a case study, I examine discourses about plastic pollution and tease out four prominent framings, or senses, of such pollution – as spatial displacement, as waste, as environmental pollution, and as symbolic pollution – and explore their mobilisation by stakeholders. I also make the case for greater attention to the aesthetic dimension as a heuristic framework in knowing and acting upon pollution.

摘要

在过去十年中，塑料污染已成为公共讨论中的一个重大全球性问题。尽管如此，对于塑料的哪些方面构成问题几乎没有达成共识。在印度，垃圾、无管理的处置、缺乏生物降解、资源浪费、对身体完整性和自然秩序的威胁以及国家耻辱都与“塑料污染”有着不同的关联。那么，这个术语在各种公共话语流中使用时到底指代什么，这意味着什么语义转换？我以印度为例，审视了有关塑料污染的论述，梳理出此类污染的四种突出框架或意义——空间位移、废物、环境污染和象征性污染——并探讨了利益相关者对它们的动员。