Decolonizzazione Botanica. In difesa dei cultivar

Abstract

Not everything is wrong with the idea of botanical decolonisation: science tells us that biodiversity is generally good for ecosystems. However, we need to think harder, longer and in more complex ways about the chains of inference linking our thinking – from plants to animals, peoples, and territories and starting from the meaning and agency of the word “native”. This paper explores the current debate, critically addresses the idea of decolonization in the garden, and untangles the biological and symbolic threads that complicate the ways we think about plants in our backyard.