#44 - Making Fish: The history of colonial fish experiments in Singapore & Malaya

In 1923, the Fisheries Department of the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States was formed. During the period between the two world wars, the department conducted experiments on catching fish, preserving fish and growing more fish in Singapore and Malaya. Today, we speak to Choo Ruizhi, a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, about his research into the fisheries department’s attempts to change local fishing and consumption practices by introducing European methods. We also discuss why it’s useful to understand this forgotten era of experimentation and its relation to colonial power and science.