GEOG20001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Joseph Banks, Dualism
16 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
LECTURE 3: COLONIAL + POST-COLONIAL NATURES
POST COLONIAL NATURES
• Post-Colonial Nature: attempt to denaturalise domination of views of nature
• Consider how societies + nature are marked by histories of colonialism + domination
o Argues that colonial power operates through structure + representation
▪ ‘Colonialism has physical, economic + cultural traces in the present day’
• ‘One can only understand present-day nature by examining its imperial + colonial past
• Approach: came from dissatisfaction w/ Marxist critiques that focused only on class as a means of domination
o Drew inspirations from other dominations (any stigmatised, marginalised group – race, gender)
• Concerned with hierarchical power situations becoming embedded + normal
• Offer challenge of domination through dualisms + processes (classification, global movement of plants + zoos)
o Imperialism + colonialism expressed a control of nature that’s unprecedented in scope
COLONIAL NATURES
• An imperial practice or policy is one which dominant power establishes colonies/settlements in another territory, for political +
economic benefit
o Makes colonial people + resources available to be used by dominating power
Rise of Colonialism:
• New resources to be exploited + create new markets
• Age of exploration of science
• Endeavour – James Cook: voyage of exploration, collected samples
• 1788: settled Australia: claim to land + over-crowed prisons
Kew Botanic Gardens
• London, most species in world, based on science
• Sir Joseph Banks: 1st unofficial director of Kew
o Sent collectors global to collect new plant species + increase diversity
• Purposes of exploitation – allowed the growth of the British Empire
o Able to get crops to own colonies (when countries declared independence) + feed people + use resources
• Plants taken to Kew to document + trial – then re-distributed to colonies suitable for growth = economic gain
DUALISM (MASTERS LOGIC) – PLUMWOOD
• New v Old world: represented more fundamental Western views of nature
• Aim of post-colonial work: to expose this logic + recover examples of resistance + work toward better relations
o Plumwood: ‘try for a non-hierarchical conception of difference’ – recognise difference, but be critical in how we use them to
structure the world
• Plumwood: argues nature/culture dualism acts as an ideological legitimation for Western societies exploitation of nature
Plumwood’s meaning of Dualism
1. You make a difference (recognise the distinction)
2. Difference is linked to hierarchy (one side of dualism dominated by other = problematic)
Dualisms are characterised by 5 things
1. Homogenisation (stereotyping)
2. Backgrounding (not recognising contribution of others)
3. Radical exclusion/hyper-separation (creating 2 separate worlds)
4. Incorporation (2nd world seen as inferior)
5. Instrumentalism (2nd world only a means to support ends of 1st - just there to satisfy dominating world)
• Zoos are the most transparent institutional exploitation of hierachising dualisms (reason/nature, mind/body, human/animals)
Examples
Grasslands (2014) – Linda Tegg
• Art installation of grasslands on steps of State Vic library
• Works inspired by accounts of local environment at time of colonisation held in the library
• Grassland area seen as odd in regard to the Australian wilderness – created a layering of past + present
NZ: River granted legal personhood status
• Single entity, given legal rights + standing
• 2 guardians: one from the government (Crown) and one indigenous (Maori)
Imperialism
Extend power through control of distant territory, political + economic
expansion, to create + maintain empire
(eg. Britain creating + ruling Australia)
Colonialism
Political control, settlement + exploitation,
based on actual settlement (main
difference)
Classificatory Systems
• Social construction + cultural imposition on the world
• Unnatural to order the world
• Classification of flora + fauna – labelled + systematised
o Key step in taking possession of + using natural resources
Document Summary
Post colonial natures: consider how societies + nature are marked by histories of colonialism + domination, argues that colonial power operates through structure + representation. Post-colonial nature: attempt to denaturalise domination of views of nature. Colonialism has physical, economic + cultural traces in the present day". One can only understand present-day nature by examining its imperial + colonial past. Imperialism + colonialism expressed a control of nature that"s unprecedented in scope. Art installation of grasslands on steps of state vic library. 2 guardians: one from the government (crown) and one indigenous (maori) Extend power through control of distant territory, political + economic expansion, to create + maintain empire (eg. britain creating + ruling australia) Political control, settlement + exploitation, based on actual settlement (main difference) An imperial practice or policy is one which dominant power establishes colonies/settlements in another territory, for political + economic benefit: makes colonial people + resources available to be used by dominating power.
