This talk invites us to reflect on how anthropology can help transform the way we see and relate to plants. Thanks to the insights of the Environmental Humanities, we no longer think of nature as a mere backdrop to human life but as a complex web of interdependent beings. Yet, in the enthusiasm to recognize nonhuman agency, “humanity” itself is often treated as a single, undifferentiated category, obscuring the many concrete ways in which diverse communities imagine and practice what it means to live well. Drawing on research on manioc (cassava) domestication and a journey to a riverside community on the Upper Rio Negro, the speaker proposes a more intimate and relational understanding of cross-cultural encounters between humans and plants. She reinterprets long-standing divisions—between manioc brewers and manioc flour makers—and reconsiders the historical role of manioc during the rubber boom. Beyond its biological adaptability, manioc emerges as a living archive of memory and resilience. Its importance lies not only in its plasticity as a plant but also in the human stories, rituals, and practices that carry it forward through time. The speaker suggests that environmental sensibility alone is not enough; we also need a historical anthropology capable of listening to how people and plants together sustain and reinvent the conditions for life to flourish.
December 9 | 3 pm (Lisboa)
Online
Zoom Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82189613561?pwd=Srwk2p3yxptbEJHQp4XUODSLOUhXxL.1