The Tropics on the Window Sill: Domesticating the Global Environment (1850s to 1930)

Objectif

The nineteenth century saw an unprecedented transfer of plants around the globe. In this context, the emergence of a specific form of plant cultivation – namely that of tropical and subtropical houseplants – has received remarkably little scholarly attention, despite the significant role that houseplants played in shaping modern European conceptions of nature. As important components of domestic environments, they heavily influenced Europe’s socio-environmental relationship with the rest of the world. This investigation will be the first comprehensive and comparative account to study this development.
The project takes a global history approach, looking multi-directionally at the interrelationships between cultural, social and material factors. It revalorizes intimate spaces as sites of global encounters and makes visible how plants contributed as driving forces to the emergence of new cultural practices. It has four principal aims: (1) To examine human–nature relations in modern Europe through the lens of domestic horticulture; (2) To demonstrate how the complex relationship between humans and plants is shaped by both technological and natural forces; (3) To explore how the material and cultural flows between Europe and the wider world shaped the globalization of Europe itself; (4) To illuminate the historical roots of human estrangement from nature and to explore its enduring relevance for contemporary environmental and cultural debates.
Prompted by the global climate and biodiversity crisis, there is a growing awareness that human life on this planet is only possible thanks to plants. Artists, writers and scientists are increasingly dealing with their role and function. Museum exhibitions on human-plant entanglements are drawing large crowds, and the general public engages on social media with “green interiors”. This project will provide a robust historic grounding to current concerns and uncover the hidden histories of our “green housemates”.