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Short abstract:

In Japan, petrochemical elements have become infrastructures of care with companion technologies that freeze and heat food. Using feminist approaches and methodologies, I show how the dominant narratives to eliminate plastics need to be situated within the wider debate over gender equality.

Long abstract:

Emerging bodies of scholarship have shown how petrochemical elements enable social and affective relations. In the case of Japan, petrochemical elements have become “relational elements” (Papadopoulos, Puig de la Bellacasa, and Myers 2022) through their transformation into household plastic products. Household plastic products are most prominently seen in kitchens, handled mostly by women. Using multiple methodologies including in-depth photovoice interviews, life history interviews, and the analysis of newspaper articles and cooking magazines from the 1970s, I found that the use of plastics in the household has expanded the variety of care that women can provide to their family members. However, petrochemical elements alone do not act as elemental infrastructures of care. They are mediated by technological infrastructures that freeze and heat food and thereby shift the temporalities of household labour. Together with companion technologies such as fridges, freezers, and microwaves, petrochemical elements became infrastructures of care, not only for women to care for others but also to care for themselves. Drawing on feminist approaches, this paper shows how the dominant narratives to eliminate plastics from everyday lives need to be situated within the wider debate over gender equality.