It’s Commodity Day here at American Prestige, so Danny and Derek decided to celebrate by speaking with Jonathan Robins, associate professor of history at Michigan Tech, about a ubiquitous product that somehow flies under the radar: palm oil. They touch on the history of oil palm cultivation, the different uses of the oil itself, its role in the story of global capitalism, commodity fetishization, the ecological impacts of oil palm cultivation, and more.

Be sure to grab a copy of Jonathan’s award-winning book Oil Palm: A Global History!

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