Mareike PAMPUS, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
This paper investigates the intersecting temporalities of sea buckthorn in post-mining areas in Germany. We analyse its different “modes of existence” (Latour) through time as an autochthonous plant, a neophyte, a source of nutrition and heritage of the former eastern German state (GDR), as well as a blessing and a curse for land restoration of former mining areas. Especially in its contemporary usage in land restoration, the notion of temporalities needs to be expanded not only to the past but also to possible futures, which the plant enables and/or eliminates. Considering the ruptures and continuities in the specific human-plant relationship through a more-than-human analysis enriches our understanding of current socio-biological dynamics and regional economic transformations. We shed light on how narratives of a specific plant and human-plant interactions oscillate through times of change and ruptures. How is the plant itself responding to and dealing with change and crisis? How does the plant produce space and make future in places such as former mining areas?
Mots clés : Temporalities|modes of existence|human-plant relationship|post-mining areas|Germany
A103716JE