Colonial Botany (Entangled Histories of Plants, Origin, and Power)

Like ethnographic artifacts, many plants bear a colonial history. This volume provides examples of such plants from Africa, the Americas and Asia, many of which we see around us every day. These plants have significant cultural, religious, or medicinal importance in their regions of origin. From their “discovery” by Europeans, what they share with other artefacts is their role as objects of power and desire. Plants from outside Europe were treated as precious as art objects, and their display was given due prominence. But we forget that these plants were known to Indigenous peoples for hundreds of years and valued for their numerous properties. Bridging historical sources and contemporary perspectives, this publication examines legacies of colonial botany and sheds new light on the museum context.

• The colonial history of European houseplants

• From traditional use by Indigenous peoples to Western monetization and commercialization 

• Plants as objects of power and desire