Thriving in the anthropocene: Understanding human-weed relations and invasive plant management using theories of practice

Authors

Jennifer M. Atchison, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

134557

Publication Details

Atchison, J. (2018). Thriving in the anthropocene: Understanding human-weed relations and invasive plant management using theories of practice. In C. Maller & Y. Strengers (Eds.), Social Practices and Dynamic Non-Humans: Nature, Materials and Technologies (pp. 25-46). Switzerland: Springer Nature.

Abstract

The problem of invasive species is often considered to be a human one, since their present distribution and spread also contributes to an understanding of human influence. But what of the plants themselves? How might we acknowledge that invasive plants do not merely 'accumulate', but remake the world differently? In this chapter I draw from posthumanist perspectives of social practice that question the assumption of the stability of organisms. I use examples from ethnographic research in Northern Australia to consider the way plants expose and drive the discontinuities in human regulatory, governance, and other structures designed to limit them. Together, these examples challenge the view of invasive plants as merely extensions of human agency, but they also reveal new avenues for deciding upon futures and priorities.