Vegetal Entwinements in Philosophy and Art

The first reader in critical plant studies, exploring a rapidly growing multidisciplinary field—the intersection of philosophy with plant science and the visual arts.

In recent years, philosophy and art have testified to how anthropocentrism has culturally impoverished our world, leading to the wide destruction of habitats and ecosystems. In this book, Giovanni Aloi and Michael Marder show that the field of critical plant studies can make an important contribution, offering a slew of possibilities for scientific research, local traditions, Indigenous knowledge, history, geography, anthropology, philosophy, and aesthetics to intersect, inform one another, and lead interdisciplinary and transcultural dialogues. 

Vegetal Entwinements in Philosophy and Art considers such topics as the presence of plants in the history of philosophy, the shifting status of plants in various traditions, what it means to make art with growing life-forms, and whether or not plants have moral standing. In an experimental vegetal arrangement, the reader presents some of the most influential writing on plants, philosophy, and the arts, together with provocative new contributions, as well as interviews with groundbreaking contemporary artists whose work has greatly enhanced our appreciation of vegetal being.

Contributors:
Catriona A.H. Sandilands, Giovanni Aloi, Marlene Atleo, Monica Bakke, Emily Blackmer, Jodi Brandt, Teresa Castro, Dan Choffness, D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem, Mark Dion, Elisabeth E. Schussler, Braden Elliott, Monica Gagliano, Elaine Gan, Prudence Gibson, James H. Wandersee, Manuela Infante,  Luce Irigaray, Nicholas J. Reo, Jonathon Keats, Zayaan Khan, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Eduardo Kohn, Stefano Mancuso, Michael Marder, Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Elaine Miller, Samaneh Moafi, Uriel Orlow, Mark Payne, Allegra Pesenti, Špela Petrič, Michael Pollan, Darren Ranco, Angela Roothaan, Marcela Salinas, Diana Scherer, Vandana Shiva, Linda Tegg, Maria Theresa Alves, Krista Tippet, Anthony Trewavas, Alessandra Viola, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, B+W, Mathai Wangari, Lois Weinberger, Kyle Whyte, David Wood, Anicka YiAlternative Reading Pathways (xiii)
Introduction (1)
I Conceptions
1 The Plant: A Stranger (13)
Stefano Mancuso and Alessandra Viola
2 Maimonides' Palm Tree (25)
Michael Marder
3 Hermeneutics of Trees in an African Context: Enriching the Understanding of the Environment "For the Common Heritage of Humankind" (43) 
Angela Roothaan
4 A Weed is a Plant Out of Place (61)
Allegra Pesenti
5 Nuucaanul Plants and Habitats as Reflected in Oral Traditions: Since Raven and Thunderbird Roamed (73) 
Marlene Atleo (?eh ?eh nah tuu k*iss)
6 Interview with Mark Dion (87)
7 Interview with Zayaan Khan (91)
II Methodologies 
8 The Human Bumblebee (97)
Michael Pollan
9 Cosmologies: Perspectivism (107)
Eduardo Viveiros de Castro 
10 Of Other Spaces: (Brief) Encounters (145)
Giovanni Aloi
11 Adventures in Phytophenomenology (159)
David Wood
12 Introduction to Plant-Thinking (173)
Michael Marder
13 Interview with Jonathon Keats (187)
14 Interview with Spela Petric (195)
III Engagements
15 Seeds and Plants as my Teachers of Ethics (205)
16 Concepts of Ethnomedicine (227)
Dan Choffnes
17 Blossoming Sex: Floral Transpositions in the Works of Natalia LL and Zofia Kulik (263)
Monika Bakke
18 Botanical Decolonization: in Defense of Cultivars (277)
Giovanni Aloi
19 Invasive Species, Indigenous Stewards, and Vulnerability Discourse (291) 
Nicholas J. Reo, Kyle Whyte, Darren Ranco, Jodi Brandt, Emily Blackmer, and Braden Elliott
20 Interview with Uriel Orlow (311)
21 Interview with D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem (319)
IV Subjectivities 
22 Estado Vegetal (329)
Manuela Infante and Marcela Salinas
23 Dissemination, Rhizomes, Efflorescene: The Legacy of the Vegetative Soul in Twentieth-Century Thought (335)
Elaine Miller
24 The Colour Green (359)
Prudence Gibson
25 Preventing Plant Blindness (377)
James H. Wandersee and Elisabeth E. Schussler
26 Trees in Shallow Time (385)
Mark Payne
27 Interview with Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro (393)
28 Interview with Maria Thereza Alves (399)
V Intelligences
29 The Living Thought (407)
Eduardo Kohn
30 Intelligence and Consciousness (439) 
Anthony Trewavas
31 The 1970s Plant Craze (461)
Teresa Castro
32 Floral Sensations: Plant Biopolotics (479)
Catriona A. H. Sandilands
33 To Hear Plants Speak (495) 
Michael Marder
34 The Time Travelers: Im/Possibilities of Return (517) 
Elaine Gan
35 Interview with Samaneh Moafi (525)
36 Interview with Diana Scherer (533) 
VI Autobiographies 
37 A...Mazing Pea (541)
Monica Gagliano
38 Conversation: The Intelligence of Plants (555)
Robin Wall Kimmerer and Krista Tippett
39 Ruderal Societies (569)
Lois Weinberger
40 Seeking Refuge in the Vegetal World (573)
Luce Irigary and Michael Marder
41 The Green Belt Movement (583)
Wangari Maathai
42 Sorely Visible: Plants, Roots, and National Identity 
Giavanni Aloi
43 Interview with Linda Tegg and Baracco + Wright (607)
44 Interview with Anicka Yi (615)
Contributors (621)“A brilliant book. It is massive, often provocative and the quality and diversity of the viewpoints included is remarkable.”
—we make money not artGiovanni Aloi is an art historian who teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His past books include Why Look at Plants? The Botanical Emergence in Contemporary Art and Lucian Freud: Herbarium. 

Michael Marder is a philosopher who teaches at the University of the Basque Country. His past books include Plant-Thinking: A Philosophy of Vegetal Life and The Philosopher’s Plant: An Intellectual Herbarium.