Post-colonialism reloaded
Speaking truth to power: 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8a, 8aFR, 8b, 8c, 8d, 8e, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 15a, 16, 16a, 17, 18, 19 & 20
Lessons from post-colonialism offered a few more lessons to be drawn from a brilliant speech following the first post of this mini-series, Colonialism reloaded, exploring examples where colonialism persisted under various guises. I conclude this mini-series with women botanists spearheading de-colonising and de-masculinising in The Guardian. The second-last post #19 adds insights from N American First Nations.
Twenty seems also to be a good stopping point for this series, as I move back home to England and finally get off socials — this has been prompted by a recurring shoulder injury that only healed when I got off mobiles & socials — hence the sunset banner photo above. Here is an all-series recap & thanks for reading!
“We need other logics for our approach to nature: From plant names to notions of native species, many aspects of the natural world are shaped by empire. We need to decolonise, says the author of a new book — but not all experts agree”: that’s a provocative summary by a female botanist from the formerly colonial Global South. She argues that colonialism persists thru male-dominance and argues for, pardon the pun, root&branch rethink of no less than plant taxonomy! The article balances the discussion with efforts for the science to be more inclusive.
The point is, however, a serious one: post-colonialism still imposes binary sexuality on a biome that is 85% gender-fluid! This caught my eye not only as a formerly feminist scientist (series starting here), but also as a former beekeeper…
I detail below some more stats, but consider that plants form 82.5% of the global biomass (at bottom): at least 70% of the biomass is gender-fluid… just think how that affects our anthropomorphic, post-colonial and sexist assumptions!
I kept ten hives just west of Calgary CAN for a decade until 40 yrs ago in my first marriage. It taught me some humility:
a) you only manage hives to the extent that you maintain their environment so as to avoid swarming: the hive is the entity that reproduces vegetatively, when a swarm creates a new colony… problem being that you’re left with the weaker half!
b) with a queen and worker bees (that are sterile females), drones are a distinct minority kept only and briefly to fertilise the queen here
c) eusocial insects (bees, ants, and termites) play a significant role in the biosphere (here and here again): representing 2% of known insect species, insects as a whole make up 80% numbers of species and 7% of the global biomass: compared with 0.01% for humans… that’s 700x & 15x our biomass for insects and eusocial insects!
