Oil palm is one of the most dynamic commodity crops in Southeast Asia. It was used as a machine lubricant during the Industrial Revolution and forms the basis of personal care and cleaning products. Palm oil yields in Southeast Asia are by far the highest, representing more than 85% of global supply.
Explore a selection of books from the ISEAS Library catalogue about oil palms in Southeast Asia and beyond at https://go.gov.sg/iseaslib-d2409
Indonesia
In the shadow of the palms: more-than-human becomings in West Papua / Sophie Chao. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343C46
“With In the Shadow of the Palms, Sophie Chao examines the multispecies entanglements of oil palm plantations in West Papua, Indonesia, showing how Indigenous Marind communities understand and navigate the social, political, and environmental demands of the oil palm plant. As Chao notes, it is no secret that the palm oil sector has destructive environmental impacts: it greatly contributes to tropical deforestation and is a major driver of global warming.”
- An economic analysis of trade liberalization in the international market for palm and related oils / Ali Alwi. Call No.: HF1428 A47
Kehampaan hak: masyarakat vs perusahaan sawit di Indonesia / penulis, Ward Berenschot, Ahmad Dhiaulhaq, Afrizal, O. Hospes; penerjemah, Taufiq Hanafi; dengan kontribusi dari Rebekha Adriana [and eleven others]. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343I5B48
The authors, a group of academics in collaboration with activists, examine cases of community resistance to palm oil companies. The authors use the term rightlessness to refer to the situation created for communities, through various obstacles from state institutions that deprive them of access to legal services and render citizens’ rights ineffective.
- Palm oil: a golden gift from Indonesia to the world / Achmad Manggabarani. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343I5M54
- Plantation life: corporate occupation in Indonesia’s oil palm zone / Tania Murray Li and Pujo Semedi. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343I54
- Promised land: palm oil and land acquisition in Indonesia: implications for local communities and indigenous peoples / Marcus Colchester … [et al.]. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343I5P96
- Raja limbung: seabad perjalanan sawit di Indonesia / tim penulis, Mardiyah Chamim …. [et al.]. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343I5R16
Malaysia
The UP saga / Susan M. Martin. Call No.: HD9490.5 P344U65
“The fascinating story of United Plantations Berhad (UP) highlights a Scandinavian-founded firm that evolved along quite different lines from the normal models of British imperial business. Tracing the company’s origins before the First World War, it describes the crisis years of economic depression and Japanese occupation then on to the years of spectacular growth which has lasted since the time of the Emergency and Merdeka right up to the present day.”
- Land is life: land rights and oil palm development in Sarawak / Marcus Colchester… [et al.]. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343M3L25
- Palm Fruit Oil: Excellence Through Innovation, Leadership & Industrialization. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343P17
- Prosperity or predicament? Decoding certification challenges in Malaysia’s palm oil industry / by Serina Rahman and Lee Poh Onn. Call No.: DS501 I59T NO. 6(2024)
- The development of the Malaysian palm oil industry and the environment: prior, early independent and contemporary periods / Mohd Rafi Yaacob. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343M3M69
- The Palm Oil Multinationals from Malaysia: How They Control a Global Industry that Started from Four Humble Seeds / Dato’ Anuar Md Nor. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343M3A63
- The visible palm: market failures, industrial policy and the Malaysian palm oil industry / Fredrik Gustafsson. Call No.: HD9490.5 P343M3G98
Southeast Asia and beyond
Planet palm: how palm oil ended up in everything-and endangered the world / Jocelyn C. Zuckerman. Call no.: SB317 P3Z94
“James Beard Award–winning journalist Jocelyn C. Zuckerman spent years traveling the globe, from Liberia to Indonesia, India to Brazil, reporting on the human and environmental impacts of this poorly understood plant. The result is Planet Palm, a riveting account blending history, science, politics, and food as seen through the people whose lives have been upended by this hidden ingredient.”
- Achieving Sustainable Cultivation of Oil Palm / edited by Alain Rival. SB299 P3A17 V. 1 & V.2
- Children of the sunshine industry: child labor and workers’ situation in oil palm plantations in Caraga. HD6250 P5C53
- Green Technologies for the Oil Palm Industry / Dominic C. Y. Foo, Mustafa Kamal Tun Abdul Aziz, editors. TD195 P36G79
- Oil palm: a global history / Jonathan E. Robins. HD9490.5 P342R65
- Palm oil: the grease of empire / Max Haiven. HD9490.5 P342H15
Best effort has been made to ensure the external links provided are valid as of collation. We welcome your suggestions to help us improve this service. Please take a moment to give us your feedback via our feedback form.
In making materials available online, the ISEAS Library always does its best to meet the requirements of copyright and other laws. If you have concerns about any material that ISEAS Library has placed online and want to suggest that it be taken down, please contact us at libcir@iseas.edu.sg.