Engaged research-creation for multispecies justice: Changing representations of an “invasive” plant in Ottawa
The exceptionally poor air quality in Ottawa in June 2023, caused by forest fires in northern Quebec, was a stark reminder of our vulnerability to the environmental degradation caused by the extractive industry. These fires, it should be stressed, were not just the product of global warming, but also of the forestry industry, which prioritizes the cultivation of highly flammable spruce monocultures over the regeneration of biodiverse forests that are far less so. Of course, the idea that our well-being is fundamentally linked to that of other species in our environment, whether animal, plant or mineral, is far from new. For the Anishinaabe people, the guardians of the unceded territory our university occupies, it has been a key notion for millennia. However, the more recent increase of anthropogenic environmental disasters has had the effect of making us more and more aware of the undeniable truth of our interdependence with the other forms of life that surround us.
In anthropology, this realization has led to a redefinition of the objects, approaches and methods of ethnographic research, giving rise in particular to the development of the “anthropology of life” (Kohn 2007) approach. This anthropology “is not limited to human beings”, as has generally been the case since the founding of the discipline, “but (...) is interested in the effects of our relations with other types of living beings” (Kohn 2007, p. 4). The methodology advocated to take better account of these interspecies relationships is “multi-species ethnography” (Kirksey and Helmreich 2010), i.e., an ethnography devoted to “contact zones” where it is impossible to distinguish what is “culture” (human perception or action) from what is “nature'” (which remains independent of our human perceptions and actions). Spruce monocultures are a good example. These cultivated forests are neither completely natural nor completely artificial. In these spaces that are both wild and cultivated, multispecies ethnographers strive to develop “the art of noticing” (Tsing 2015) both conventionally valued life forms (such as so-called “native plants”) and those that are ignored or actively detested (such as so-called “invasive plants”). Faced with the realization that our relationships with all these life forms are far from equal, a number of multispecies researchers are drawing on older critical approaches (such as feminist studies) to shed light on what underlies the prioritization of the well-being of one form of life over another (Petitt 2023). Some of them also practise more engaged forms of research, as they not only document or theorize these situations of inequality, but also attempt to make a significant contribution to “multi-species justice” (Chao, Bolender, and Kirksey 2022; Celermajer et al. 2021).
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the notion of “multi-species justice,” to critical multi-species ethnography and to the practices of engaged research creation that sometimes accompany it, based on a field study of the interrelationships between a plant that is conventionally considered “invasive,” Japanese knotweed, and environmental protection stakeholders in the Gatineau-Ottawa region. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which classifies knotweed as one of the world's 100 species of greatest concern, defines an “invasive alien species” as one that has been introduced by humans outside its natural range, and whose establishment and spread threaten ecosystems, habitats or so-called “native” species with negative ecological, economic or health consequences (IUCN 2000). Japanese knotweeds, however, are not without their qualities, including the ability to stabilize contaminants in polluted soils. This course will examine the relationship between environmental protection stakeholders in the Gatineau-Ottawa region and Japanese knotweeds, and the ideological, socio-economic, legislative and political contexts in which these relationships take form. We will then present the results of our investigation to these stakeholders in the form of a story, an exhibition or some other artistic intervention, so as to generate discussion on the type of relationships that would be more desirable to cultivate with this plant, given both, among other things, its “invasive” nature and its ability to regenerate contaminated soils.
This course is a bilingual course offered in French and English to undergraduate students from June 23, 2025 to July 11, 2025.
Professor's contact information
Professor Karine Vanthuyne
School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 613-562-5800 ext. 1193
Room: FSS 10029
Office hours: by appointment
Course outline
