Abstract
At a time of global ecological crisis, this situation invites us to rethink our relationship with the land and to develop other ways of looking at transitions in our relationship with living things. The paper is based on research into tropical gardens, which seek to shed light on the role of the garden and gardening in the production of a ‘cultivated biodiversity’ that is the product of both cultural habitus and cultivation practices. The approach takes three forms: the collection and analysis of around twenty gardeners’ accounts; a survey of the school of the planetary garden of Reunion Island; and the more experimental approach of the collective creation of a garden, fed by the aspirations and know-how of several dozen gardeners, in which the evolution of specific biodiversity is measured over the course of the experiment. This experiment shows how a ‘community’ is being built, combining individual and collective practices that teach people how to produce and consume differently. The garden plot is seen as harbouring the power to act on global environmental disorders, with the inherited model of the world garden slipping, without disappearing, towards that of the ‘planetary garden’. New ways of doing things are being experimented with, inseparable from a new relationship with natural elements and time, but also from a desire to pass on knowledge. By demonstrating the ecological, social and cultural aspects of Reunion’s gardens, this research shows the need to reconsider these spaces, which are currently receiving a poor attention, unfortunately.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Education and Learning Worlds of Differences
KEYWORDS
BIODIVERSITY, GARDEN, ECOSYSTEM, ISLAND, LANDSCAPE
