Decolonising the botanic garden: the 20th century journey from colonial assemblages to sites of memory and global plant conservation
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Archaeology
Abstract
From their European roots in medicine and elite prestige, botanic gardens (BGs) were exported as powerful colonial assemblages. By 1902, the British Empire and UK held 45% of the world's BGs, centred at Kew. 70 years later, BGs were symbols of old coloniality in newly independent countries, such as Jamaica, whilst Kew was turning to conservation.
Research on colonial BGs and Kew concentrates on C18-C19th (eg Endersby 2008, Drayton 2000, McCracken 1997) excluding C20th, whilst distance from the archives at Kew has restricted Jamaican BG research. This C20th journey of BGs from colonial assemblages to sites of memory and global plant conservation is a critical research lacuna.
Research on the multivocal histories, cultural landscapes and societal values of BGs in Jamaica and Kew in C20th is entangled in the current historical moment, demanding engagement with decolonisation discourse reinvigorating late C20th postcolonial work. This project is also contextualised by Caribbean reparation negotiations and redevelopment pressures on the Jamaican BG sites, heightened by BLM and Covid.
Decolonisation requires a personally reflexive method that situates the academic researcher who, in this instance, is also a practising heritage professional. I use autoethnographic qualitative research tools to document the iterative unfolding of the research process and co-development of relationships, prioritising accountability, context, truthfulness and community (Gonzalez 2003); foregrounding subjectivity and exposing contemporary Eurocentrism (Pathak 2010). These tools enable me to evaluate and develop decolonisation practices in UK archaeology, heritage and BGs; exploring how decolonising academic research can inform international professional heritage practice, and vice versa, in my lived experience straddling both worlds.
In the first term of my PhD (part-time) I have engaged key stakeholders and identified research context and scope. Working with stakeholders from the outset ensures research impact for Kew and Jamaican BGs, addressing gaps they identify as critical.
For the rest of years 1-2 I shall continue to build context, refine methodology, scope resources and begin archival and participant research in London; connecting with the humanities hub at Kew and interviewing past and current staff. Continuing throughout the PhD, this work at Kew will interrogate changing C20th Kew-Jamaican BG relationships and develop a broad understanding of Kew's postcolonial turn to conservation. I shall work across a range of primary sources, from administrative and personal archives to literature, media and artworks.
In Jamaican fieldwork in years 3-4, I shall undertake archival, participant and landscape research in 4 BGs: to generate understanding of the C20-C21st histories and cultural landscapes of Jamaican BGs, including as sites of memory after Independence, building on work on C18-C19th (Nesbitt, 2018; Taylor, 2014; Edwards 2014). I shall combine desk-based and site-based landscape research to develop a multivocal reading of the cultural landscape, drawing on embodiment, materiality and contestation in the current phenomenological turn. I will use participant research methods to map current and past societal and heritage values, alongside oral history to document changes within living memory.
Years 5-6 will focus on data analysis and writing, with regular trips to Kew to refine research and network.
As this is a part-time PhD addressing time-critical issues I intend to publish as I progress: making data and findings available to inform proposed BG development in Jamaica; to bridge the conceptual gap between Kew's pre-C20th heritage and its current conservation role, so supporting informed WHS management and Scientific Quarter development; to engage with decolonisation debate, and to lay the ground for future C20th BG research.
The project is flexible by design, as Covid opens up and closes down resources.
Research on colonial BGs and Kew concentrates on C18-C19th (eg Endersby 2008, Drayton 2000, McCracken 1997) excluding C20th, whilst distance from the archives at Kew has restricted Jamaican BG research. This C20th journey of BGs from colonial assemblages to sites of memory and global plant conservation is a critical research lacuna.
Research on the multivocal histories, cultural landscapes and societal values of BGs in Jamaica and Kew in C20th is entangled in the current historical moment, demanding engagement with decolonisation discourse reinvigorating late C20th postcolonial work. This project is also contextualised by Caribbean reparation negotiations and redevelopment pressures on the Jamaican BG sites, heightened by BLM and Covid.
Decolonisation requires a personally reflexive method that situates the academic researcher who, in this instance, is also a practising heritage professional. I use autoethnographic qualitative research tools to document the iterative unfolding of the research process and co-development of relationships, prioritising accountability, context, truthfulness and community (Gonzalez 2003); foregrounding subjectivity and exposing contemporary Eurocentrism (Pathak 2010). These tools enable me to evaluate and develop decolonisation practices in UK archaeology, heritage and BGs; exploring how decolonising academic research can inform international professional heritage practice, and vice versa, in my lived experience straddling both worlds.
In the first term of my PhD (part-time) I have engaged key stakeholders and identified research context and scope. Working with stakeholders from the outset ensures research impact for Kew and Jamaican BGs, addressing gaps they identify as critical.
For the rest of years 1-2 I shall continue to build context, refine methodology, scope resources and begin archival and participant research in London; connecting with the humanities hub at Kew and interviewing past and current staff. Continuing throughout the PhD, this work at Kew will interrogate changing C20th Kew-Jamaican BG relationships and develop a broad understanding of Kew's postcolonial turn to conservation. I shall work across a range of primary sources, from administrative and personal archives to literature, media and artworks.
In Jamaican fieldwork in years 3-4, I shall undertake archival, participant and landscape research in 4 BGs: to generate understanding of the C20-C21st histories and cultural landscapes of Jamaican BGs, including as sites of memory after Independence, building on work on C18-C19th (Nesbitt, 2018; Taylor, 2014; Edwards 2014). I shall combine desk-based and site-based landscape research to develop a multivocal reading of the cultural landscape, drawing on embodiment, materiality and contestation in the current phenomenological turn. I will use participant research methods to map current and past societal and heritage values, alongside oral history to document changes within living memory.
Years 5-6 will focus on data analysis and writing, with regular trips to Kew to refine research and network.
As this is a part-time PhD addressing time-critical issues I intend to publish as I progress: making data and findings available to inform proposed BG development in Jamaica; to bridge the conceptual gap between Kew's pre-C20th heritage and its current conservation role, so supporting informed WHS management and Scientific Quarter development; to engage with decolonisation debate, and to lay the ground for future C20th BG research.
The project is flexible by design, as Covid opens up and closes down resources.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Philippa (Pippa) Pemberton (Student) |