Roots of power : the political ecology of boundary plants / Michael Sheridan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sheridan, Michael J., author.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Series:

Routledge studies in political ecology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--Tropics--Case studies.

Ethnology.

Political ecology--Tropics--Case studies.

Political ecology.

Social structure--Tropics--Case studies.

Social structure.

Tropical plants--Social aspects--Case studies.

Tropical plants.

Ethnobotany--Tropics--Case studies.

Ethnobotany.

Tropics.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 275 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023.

Summary:

"Roots of Power tells five stories of plants, people, property, politics, peace, and protection in tropical societies. In Cameroon, French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, St. Vincent, and Tanzania, dracaena and cordyline plants are simultaneously property rights institutions, markers of social organization, and expressions of life-force and vitality. In addition to their localized roles in forming landscapes and societies, these plants mark multiple boundaries and demonstrate deep historical connections across much of the planet's tropics. These plants' deep roots in society and culture have made them the routes through which postcolonial agrarian societies have negotiated both social and cultural continuity and change. This book is a multi-sited ethnographic political ecology of ethnobotanical institutions. It uses five parallel case studies to investigate the central phenomenon of "boundary plants" and establish the linkages among the case studies via both ancient and relatively recent demographic transformations such as the Bantu expansion across tropical Africa, the Austronesian expansion into the Pacific, and the colonial system of plantation slavery in the Black Atlantic. Each case study is a social-ecological system with distinctive characteristics stemming from the ways that power is organized by kinship and gender, social ranking, or racialized capitalism. This book contributes to the literature on property rights institutions and land management by arguing that tropical boundary plants' social entanglements and cultural legitimacy make them effective foundations for development policy. Formal recognition of these institutions could reduce contradiction, conflict, and ambiguity between resource managers and states in postcolonial societies and contribute to sustainable livelihoods and landscapes. This book will appeal to scholars and students of environmental anthropology, political ecology, ethnobotany, landscape studies, colonial history, and development studies, and readers will benefit from its demonstration of the comparative method"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : approaching the boundary

Beating the bounds for boundary plants

Tanzania : knots of peace on Kilimanjaro

Cameroon : bounded vitality and rank in the Oku monarchy

Papua New Guinea : embodying places, emplacing bodies

French Polynesia : rank and revitalization in the society islands

St Vincent : dragons in a postslavery peasant society

Conclusion : beyond boundaries.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Sheridan, Michael J. Roots of power

ISBN:

9781032411408

1032411406

9781032411422

1032411422

OCLC:

1350422574

Publisher Number:

99993711083