Urban Botanical Gardens and the Aesthetics of Ecological Learning: A Theoretical Discussion and Preliminary Insights from Montreal's Botanical Garden

• Published in: Anthropologica (Ottawa) 2009-01, Vol.51 (1), p.145-157
• Main Author: Neves, Katja
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aesthetics; Anthropology; Argumentation; Attachment; Botanical gardens; Children; Concept formation; Consciousness; Creativity; Ecology; Ecosystems; Gardening; Gardens & gardening; Gift giving; Holism; Human Ecology; Human relations; Imagination; Imitation; Learning; Montreal, Quebec; Natural Environment; Nature; Ontology; Part 2: The Human in Nature; Plants; Plants (Botanical); Recognition; Scaffolding; Self concept; Semiotics; Urban ecology; Urban gardens
• ISSN: 0003-5459; 2292-3586

Although gardens have received relatively little attention from environmental anthropologists, this article suggests that they have great potential as sites for studying the complexity and versatility of human relations with non-humans. By means of a theoretical discussion illustrated through the example of the Botanical Gardens of Montreal (Quebec, Canada), this article scrutinizes the kinds of ecological learning that can occur in urban botanical gardens. It explains how the ephemerality of gardens ultimately leads to the emergence of an ecological aesthetic of attachment, relationship and holism whereby human selves come to conceive of their existence as inextricably linked to non-human selves. /// Les anthropologues de l'environnement ont accordé relativement peu d'attention aux jardins. Pourtant, comme le soutient cet article, ces lieux ont un fort potentiel en ce qui concerne l'étude de la complexité et de la versatilité des rapports entre les humains et les non humains. Au moyen d'une discussion théorique basée sur l'exemple du Jardin Botanique de Montréal (Québec, Canada), cet article scrute les types d'apprentissages écologiques pouvant se produire dans un jardin botanique en milieu urbain. Il explique la façon dont le caractère éphémère des jardins mène ultimement à l'émergence d'une esthétique écologique de l'attachement, de la relation et de l'holisme par lesquels les êtres humains en viennent à concevoir leur existence comme inextricablement liée aux êtres non-humains.