William
Knight and I are seeking panelists for an environmental history panel
on the history of plant and animal invasions and introductions (see
draft panel abstract below) at the 2016 Canadian Historical Association annual meeting
in Calgary, 30 May-1 June 2016. While our papers focus on plants and
animals in late 19th and early 20th century Canada, we welcome
contributions from different periods and geographic contexts.
If you are interested, send an email to peter.anderson@queensu.ca with a 250 word abstract for your paper as well as a 50 word summary to fit into the panel abstract. Please note that the deadline to submit for the CHA is October 15.
Sandilands, C. (2013) “Dog Stranglers in the Park?: National and Vegetal Politics in Ontario’s Rouge Valley.” Journal of Canadian Studies. 47.3, Fall 2013. 94-122.
If you are interested, send an email to peter.anderson@queensu.ca with a 250 word abstract for your paper as well as a 50 word summary to fit into the panel abstract. Please note that the deadline to submit for the CHA is October 15.
Panel Abstract
This
panel explores the deliberate and accidental movement of plants and
animals into and across environments, and their varying reception as
welcome naturalization or alien invasion. Examining three examples from
the late 19th and early 20th century, the panel considers the cultural
and environmental reaction to species movements across different
scales--physical, temporal, and conceptual. Building on Catriona
Sandiland’s work on “dog stranglers in the park” (2013), these papers
address the tensions between ideas of invasion and introduction, as well
as the agency of plants and non-human animals in environmental history.
Peter Anderson examines botanical exchanges between Canada and Great
Britain and the ways in which botanists disciplined knowledge across
imperial boundaries in an attempt to effect large-scale botanical
introductions essential to colonization projects. The multi-directional
movement of plant material within the British Empire redefined the
meaning of individual plants in diverse geographical contexts. William
Knight uses the introduction of bass to British Columbia to discuss both
the large-scale reshaping of global fish faunas and the intensely local
scale of impacts and reactions. Bass, for example, were perceived as
either a welcome product of naturalization or aggressive invader
depending when and where they were found.Sandilands, C. (2013) “Dog Stranglers in the Park?: National and Vegetal Politics in Ontario’s Rouge Valley.” Journal of Canadian Studies. 47.3, Fall 2013. 94-122.
