ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Plant Humanities 1 - Mapping an Emerging Field

Session Submission Type: Organized Session

English Abstract

Although the term ‘Plant Humanities’ is recent, the space it maps out is of long-lasting significance. It is where plant-human relationships unfold along paths that go back millennia, including traditional ecological knowledge and the social transformations that arose from plant domestication and have shaped human societies. Ethnobotany and economic botany were first to map out that space, joined more recently by approaches from the environmental humanities and critical plant studies. The Plant Humanities are in dialogue with these methodologies but bring some new and distinct insights and priorities of particular interest to historians of science. This panel explores the emerging methodology of Plant Humanities with a focus on opportunities for interdisciplinary investigation, especially in sites such as botanic gardens and museums, where research, education and outreach fruitfully intersect and inform each other. Moreover, it focuses on innovative use of biocultural collections; pedagogy; artistic interventions; and scholarly and public communication.

Sub Unit

• Organized Session

Chair

• Felix Driver, Royal Holloway University of London

Individual Presentations

• Activating Plants in the Humanities Lab - Yota Batsaki, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University

• Cultivating History of Science in the Garden - Elena Canadelli, University of Padova

• Formalising a Collections-Based Plant Humanities Programme at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh - Olwen Grace, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; Lorna Mitchell, Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Session Organizers

• Elena Canadelli, University of Padova

• Yota Batsaki, Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard University