How can we communicate the past through plants? Can green spaces memorialise complex historical stories in meaningful ways? How can we approach this ‘Plant Public History’ ethically and with care?
Plants, Enslavement and Public History aims to develop innovative new public histories of transatlantic enslavement which foreground an ethics of care and a praxis of healing by re-imagining plants, gardens and green outdoor spaces as places of public history, able to communicate and commemorate the past in new ways. It will explore the historical connections between plants, people and histories of enslavement in ways that encompass fuller understandings, foregrounding experiences of enslaved African people, and going beyond the traditional focus on labour extraction and wealth generation for enslavers by considering narratives of expertise and agency; food and cooking, community and social connections, resistance, growing skills and knowledge, medicinal usage, spiritual, symbolic and gendered connections.
It will analyse the existing public memory of plants, green spaces and enslavement at heritage sites around the Atlantic world by looking at current practice, representation and interpretation, at where connections are (or are not) made. The project aims to develop new methods of research and practice, and think about the ways that plants, gardens and green spaces might serve healing memorial functions.
Working in partnership with the International National Trusts Organisation (INTO) and their RISE (Re-Imagining Sites of Enslavement) network, and the National Trust for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (the National Trust), the project will explore these histories and their public communication through site-based research and test interpretation.
This research is funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship [MR/Y018834/1] awarded to Dr Jessica Moody (PI) October 2024-October 2028.