In the Company of Plants: Multispecies Care and Migrant Home-Making in Germany

Show notes

In this episode, ZMO's former knowledge transfer officer Lena Herzog-Sounaye meets anthropologist Dr Hilal Alkan who talks about her current research on Turkish migrants' relationships to plants. More information on the project can be found here: https://www.zmo.de/en/research/mainresearchprogram/environment-and-justice/company-of-plants

Throughout the episode Lena and Hilal talk about

• how the idea of the project emerged
• why it needs social anthropology to understand human-plant relations
• recent literature on and academic approaches to multispecies studies
• the term "multispecies" in the context of "care"
• methodological approaches, such as auto-ethnography and Hilal's own position as a migrant in Germany
• findings and learnings of the project
• plant-trafficing between the homelands and Germany, and the most popular plants among migrants from Türkiye
• how metaphors of "rooting/uprootedness" are reflective of migrants' efforts of homemaking
• and finally, some planting tipps

Mentioned in the episode: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradescantia_zebrina

Disclaimer: The episode was recorded in the summer which is why ZMO's garden and growing vegetables are mentioned.