Human history has always been nonhuman history as well. The workshop explored this assertion, bringing together international scholars to discuss themes of biocultural connections and the complex spaces where natural environments, landscapes, animals, plants, and humans mutually shape one another. Drawing on the work of Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour, and others, the workshop focused on integrating human-plant and human-animal studies, while consciously avoiding privileging one over the other. The pre-circulated papers and assigned commentaries focused on the historical contexts of imperial expansion, emphasizing the agency of Indigenous and non-European actors and examining how human and nonhuman interactions both shaped and were shaped by these environments. As a general aim, the workshop’s participants pursued integrated approaches to understanding socio-ecological relationships that challenge traditional distinctions between nature and culture and addressed gaps in the study of interactions between flora, fauna, and humans, particularly concerning questions of agency.

The introduction by the organizers and SABINE HANKE (Tübingen) and ANNE SOPHIE OVERKAMP (Gotha) provided an overview of the fields of human-animal and human-plant studies, outlining the central questions for the following two days. These questions focused on how an integrated framework might account for varying degrees of nonhuman agency while incorporating insights from both human-plant and human-animal studies.

The first panel addressed questions of agency within imperial settings and its relation to Indigenous-European entanglements. RICHARD HERZOG’s (Marburg) paper on cosmology, nature writing, and the foundation stories of the Nahua of central Mexico aimed to trace ecological shifts in Nahua spirituality surrounding key plants like maize. MATTHEW HOLMES (Stavanger) examined the collection, cultivation, and global distribution of the locust fungus, a parasitic species that resisted imperial control and became a symbol of failed scientific efforts in South Africa. CAMILO URIBE BOTTA’s (Warwick) research on the extraction of tropical orchids from Colombia analyzed how orchid hunters and traders exploited these plants as trophies and “artefacts of Empire”. In the commentaries and overall discussion, the challenges of modern taxonomy in relation to vernacular and Indigenous knowledge systems were debated, along with broader conceptualizations of the nonhuman world and the fraught relationship between fieldwork and scientific inquiry.

Panel two effectively demonstrated how the use of literary sources can extend beyond mere representations to inform the analysis of historically specific case studies. JOSEF ŘIČÁŘ’s (Prague) examination of Czech travelogues and scientific writings on primates addressed the intertwined narratives of racializing both minorities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and African Indigenous groups while anthropomorphizing primates. LAURA K. NÜFFER (Waterville) explored the interspecies entanglements of mongooses and vipers on the Ryūkyū Islands, while also examining the failed imperial interventions of the Japanese biologist Watase Shōzaburō. In the commentary and broader discussion, the categorization of both humans and animals as good, useful, bad, as well as the label of “pest”, was critically analyzed, highlighting how elements of this terminology and framing persist until today.

The first day concluded with a keynote by ROHAN DEB ROY (Reading), who compellingly explored nonhuman agency as an entanglement between insects and humans, examining its political implications for British rule in India. By focusing on entomology, the scientific study of insects, and what he termed “entomo-politics”, he demonstrated how nonhuman history can illuminate broader historical questions, such as the fragility and resilience of empire.

The second day started with an outing into the world of plants. The custodian of Tübingen University’s botanical garden, ALEXANDRA KEHL (Tübingen), gave a very informative tour through the garden and its greenhouses, drawing on the riches of the collections to point out plant geographies and plant families discussed at the workshop.

The parasitic plant hydnora africana discussed by KATHERHINE ARNOLD (München) in her follow-up paper, is not part of the collection as it is extremely difficult to cultivate outside its natural habitat. Arnold highlighted that the peculiar characteristics of the hydnora africana also challenged botanists in the nineteenth century, revealing the floral, environmental, and intellectual limits of what was known by collectors and naturalists. MONA BIELING (Hamburg) also focused on plants in her contribution, analyzing the multilayered colonial landscape of plant research in early 20th century Palestine. The promotion of the so-called Urweizen by Aaron Aaronsohn, the initiation of a banana industry by the well-known botanist Otto Warburg and the founding of the botanical garden in Jerusalem were all part of a concerted effort to advance the Zionist project by botanical work and were presented by Bieling as three stages on a common trajectory. NUALA CAOMHÁNACH (New York) for her part focused on a politically relevant plant, the Tangena shrub. On Madagascar, the shrub’s poisonous fruit was used to enact justice; a practice that was forbidden by king Radama II in his effort to modernize his country. Despite the plant’s traditional importance to Madagascans, it was given little value by Western scientists as it was neither rare nor botanically interesting. In the comments and lively discussion, the participants highlighted the epistemic significance of plants both as “boundary objects” and as “colonizers” but also as players in the field of “eco-justice”.

In the fourth and final panel, landscape and ecology stood in the foreground. JEANINE DAĞYELI (Vienna) introduced the “global Karakul” to the workshop, a breed of sheep originating in Central Asia that was naturalized in other arid environments in Central Europe, Africa and the Americas. This dispersal was fueled by a fashion hype for the soft, curly fur of the lambs and was closely linked to processes of standardization and commodification. In LUREGN LENGGENHAGER’s (Cologne) paper, the Karakul made a reappearance as they were part of the many species that turned the Chobe River into a complex border region. Drawing attention to the inherent dangers of reintroducing racist categories in more-than-human debates, Lenggenhager then engaged with a small-scale analysis of the many hierarchies in play when establishing borders in colonial and post-colonial Africa. The focus then turned once more towards Asia. SOYEONG PARK (Seoul) introduced a unique source, the Choson no Rinso compiled by the Forest Experiment Stations under the Japanese Government-General of Korea in 1938. The compendium covered all the village groves on the Korean Peninsula, both historical and present. In her analysis, she traced a shift in concepts as in the past, village groves had been valued as an integral part of Feng shui theory while the Japanese colonizers rather foregrounded the utilitarian aspect of the groves in disaster preventions. Recurring themes in this section were the “scientification” of resource management, the many different types of agency at play in a more-than-human setting and the shifting relationship between center and periphery.

The many lively and seminal discussions of the workshop culminated in a roundtable with opening statements by the organizers and keynote speaker ROHAN DEB ROY (Reading). While SABINE HANKE (Tübingen) highlighted the value of descaling certain classifications, such as the human as one species among others, ANNE SOPHIE OVERKAMP (Gotha) stressed the fruitfulness of a multispecies approach. Not only does such an approach question seemingly a priori classifications, but it also makes intersections of agency among different species visible. In a brilliant tour de force, Deb Roy drew together the focal points of the workshop and invited all participants to further pursue the common aim of a multi-species history. By doing this, Deb Roy affirmed, historians could substantially contribute to critiquing historical power relations, move beyond euro-centrism and include Indigenous perspectives and nonhuman agency without romanticizing it. In the general discussion, the workshop participants stressed the importance of introducing new actants to the narrative but to also engage with the “big questions” of history such as capitalism or colonialism. The audience agreed that it was essential to maintain a human-centered narrative in our work, not in the least to reach a wider audience. Given that time is an essential category for historians, it was also argued that writing nonhuman history provides an edge in this important question, too, as time is experienced profoundly different by plants or animals and thus raises awareness for seemingly self-evident concerns. All in all, the workshop demonstrated that studying nonhuman agency in times of imperial expansion provides an important new angle on established research questions and opens up new avenues of investigation.

Conference overview:

Sabine Hanke (Tübingen) / Anne Sophie Overkamp (Gotha): Introduction and Welcome

Panel 1: Indigenous-European Entanglements
Chair: Simon Siemianowski (Tübingen)

Richard Herzog (Marburg): Tracing Links between Cosmology, Foundation Stories and Nature Writing for the Nahua of Central Mexico (16th to 17th centuries)

Luregn Lenggenhager (Cologne) / Nuala Caomhánach (New York): Commentary

Matthew Holmes (Stavanger): The Locust Fungus: A Global History of Late Nineteenth-Century Imperial Ambition, Non-Human Resistance, and Biocontrol

Mona Bieling (Hamburg) / Jeanine Dağyeli (Vienna): Commentary

Camilo Uribe Botta (Warwick): The Extraction of Tropical Orchids in Colombia during British Victorian Orchidomania in the 19th century

Katherine Arnold (München) / Soyeong Park (Seoul): Commentary

Panel 2: Literary Representations
Chair: Sabine Hanke (Tübingen)

Laura K. Nüffer (Waterville): “Ever Greater Steps Toward Conquering Nature”: Mongooses, Vipers, and the Interspecies Entanglements of Japanese Empire

Nuala Caomhánach (New York) / Mona Bieling (Hamburg): Commentary

Josef Řičář (Prague): “Gypsies”, Natural Monogamy, and Violence Full of Love. Anthropomorphism as a Constitutive Element of the Construction of Non-Human Subjectivity in Modern Central European Travel Narratives

Jeanine Dağyeli (Vienna) / Katherine Arnold (München): Commentary

Keynote

Rohan Deb Roy (Reading): Entomo-politics: Termites in colonial India

Tour through the Botanical Garden

Panel 3: Plant Usage
Chair: Sascha Auerbach (Nottingham)

Katherine Arnold (Munich): Hydnora Africana, Plant Parasitism, and Global Scientific Practice in the Early Nineteenth Century

Richard Herzog (Marburg) / Josef Řičář (Prague): Commentary

Mona Bieling (Hamburg): The Multilayered Colonial Landscape of Plant Research in Early 20th Century Palestine

Laura K. Nüffer (Waterville) / Camilo Uribe Botta (Warwick): Commentary

Nuala Caomhánach (New York): Trial by Plant and Animal: The Tangena Ordeal on the island of Madagascar

Soyeong Park (Seoul) / Luregn Lenggenhager (Cologne): Commentary

Panel 4: Landscape and Ecology
Chair: Anne Sophie Overkamp (Gotha)

Jeanine Dağyeli (Vienna): Global Karakul: Looking at Commodification and Hegemonies through a Central Asian Sheep Breed

Matthew Holmes (Stavanger) / Richard Herzog (Marburg): Commentary

Luregn Lenggenhager (Cologne): Nonhuman Crossings and Multi-Species Border Regimes in (Post-)Colonial Southern Africa

Josef Řičář (Prague) / Laura K. Nüffer (Waterville): Commentary

Soyeong Park (Seoul): Forests as Protectors: Korean Village Groves in Tokumitsu Nobuyuki's Chosŏn no Rinsō (1938)

Camilo Uribe Botta (Warwick) / Matthew Holmes (Stavanger): Commentary

Roundtable Discussion

Sabine Hanke (Tübingen) / Anne Sophie Overkamp (Gotha) / Rohan Deb Roy (Reading)