Call for Papers for a forthcoming conference “GARDENS AND EMPIRES”, held at the British Library on 27th and 28th June 2025. The conference is being organised in partnership between Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, English Heritage, and the British Library. Please do forward to anyone you feel may be interested.

Gardens and Empires: Call for Papers

The histories of plants and gardens are deeply entangled with the histories of empires. This is seen through diverse examples such as: Aztec botanic gardens filled with plants gathered from the territories of conquered enemies; the spread of the garden as a manifestation of heaven in the expansion of the Ottoman Empire; and the symbolic Qing dynasty imperial gardens, designed to serve diplomatic purposes. In the European context, from as early as the sixteenth century, gardens were sites for the display of and research into ‘exotic’ plants collected on voyages of exploration and colonisation. In all cases, plants and ideas about gardens circulated through empires, highlighting tensions between differing ways of seeing and controlling nature.

This conference aims to investigate the impacts of these global connections on gardens around the world, in former colonies and in imperial centres. The histories of gardens and plants are interwoven with those of power, expansion and domination. The emergence of the European garden, for instance, cannot be fully understood without considering the transatlantic slave economy, merchant capitalism, colonial expansion, informal empire, and imperialism. Furthermore, as witnessed with current ecological concerns around ‘invasive’ species, we are becoming more aware of the environmental impacts of mass plant migrations.

The conference will explore the influence of global networks of science, commerce and horticulture on the plants, designs and practices found in the gardens of European and non-European empires, at home and abroad. The focus will be on ornamental plants and gardens, while recognising that they share much of their history with economic plants. The conference will form the basis of a proposal for an edited volume on the topic.

We would welcome proposals for papers on the following topics:

• The impact of empires and colonialism on gardens around the world.
• How ideas about gardens circulated around and between empires and how these were disseminated and adopted.
• The movement of people, plants, animals, and artefacts around the globe and how this shaped gardens and garden culture.
• The role of the global majority, communities and populations in shaping and influencing the movement of plants and ideas around the world.
• The material culture of colonial gardens – from architecture to tools – and modes of disciplining both plants and people.
• The legacies of empire and colonialism in historic gardens today and their impact on our understanding, management, and interpretation of these gardens.

Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words including a brief bio to Emily Parker (Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.) by 9am on 17th February 2025. In writing your abstract, please bear in mind that this conference will have a broad audience including academic researchers, horticulturalists, and garden history enthusiasts. The conference will be fully hybrid, and speakers will be able to present remotely if required. Limited funding is available for speaker expenses upon application to the conference organisers