Order-keeping in the Botanic Gardens of the British Empire, Kew/Calcutta (Late 19th century-Early 20th century)
Bellégo, Marine
Order-keeping in the Botanic Gardens of the British Empire, Kew/Calcutta (Late 19th century-Early 20th century) - 2024.
18
Botanic gardens played an important part in the economic and symbolic systems of European empires in the 19th century. Beyond their role in acclimatizing useful and profitable species of plants, these gardens, often acting as landmarks in colonial capitals, are also open to visitors who sometimes come in great numbers. Garden spaces are organized to teach visitors botanical information and also to uphold a specific vision of the colonial order. However, visitors rarely conform to what is expected of them and tend to use gardens in ways deemed inappropriate by administrators. Garden archives document many cases of people stealing plants, bathing in lakes, damaging trees, fighting, or blatantly disregarding rules. In all botanic gardens, like in public parks, guards are supposed to prevent visitors from misbehaving. A close study of these subaltern workers who are meant to actively keep order sheds light on the functioning of the institutions that they contribute to maintain. Comparing surveillance practices in Kew and Calcutta enables a new approach to the study of colonial-era order-keeping in these enclaves of domesticated nature that botanic gardens were constructed as at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Order-keeping in the Botanic Gardens of the British Empire, Kew/Calcutta (Late 19th century-Early 20th century) - 2024.
18
Botanic gardens played an important part in the economic and symbolic systems of European empires in the 19th century. Beyond their role in acclimatizing useful and profitable species of plants, these gardens, often acting as landmarks in colonial capitals, are also open to visitors who sometimes come in great numbers. Garden spaces are organized to teach visitors botanical information and also to uphold a specific vision of the colonial order. However, visitors rarely conform to what is expected of them and tend to use gardens in ways deemed inappropriate by administrators. Garden archives document many cases of people stealing plants, bathing in lakes, damaging trees, fighting, or blatantly disregarding rules. In all botanic gardens, like in public parks, guards are supposed to prevent visitors from misbehaving. A close study of these subaltern workers who are meant to actively keep order sheds light on the functioning of the institutions that they contribute to maintain. Comparing surveillance practices in Kew and Calcutta enables a new approach to the study of colonial-era order-keeping in these enclaves of domesticated nature that botanic gardens were constructed as at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Réseaux sociaux