-----Original Message-----
From: Novellino Dario [mailto:darionovellino at ALICE.IT]
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 7:45 PM
To: EANTH-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: Transmission and Exchange of Plant Resources
Dear Eanthers,
Last year, Dr. Miguel Alexiades and myself (both from the University of
Kent, UK.) co-organized a panel on "Transmission, Contact and Exchange
of Plant Resources and Knowledge between Regions: Historical and
Contemporary Approaches" during the IVth International Congress of
Ethnobotany held in Istanbul (Turkey) on 21-26 August. The session
attracted much interest and this has encourages us to edit a volume on
the subject. We are establishing contacts with potential editors in
Europe and we welcome papers that address these issues.
Please find below more information on the proposed volume.
If interested, please contact Dario Novellino (darionovellino at alice.it)
and Miguel Alexiades (M.N.Alexiades at kent.ac.uk)
CALL FOR PAPERS
Transmission, Contact and Exchange of Plant Resources and Knowledge
between
Regions: Historical and Contemporary Approaches
Edited by Dario Novellino and Miguel Alexiades
(Call for Papers)
Human history is in large part the product of flow of plants and
plant-related knowledge and technologies between regions. Plant-related
exchanges have both driven and been the product of major historical
transformations: the rise of agriculture, the development of regional
exchange networks, the evolution of state societies, the rise of
capitalism and the industrial revolution. Processes of contact and
exchange have unfolded in the context of human migration, trade, war
and colonization. While some of the major plant exchanges have been
socially engineered, usually as part of the emergence or expansion of
states or empires, other exchanges have involved individuals or
small-scale societies. In other words, plant-related exchanges have
occurred across a wide range of spatial and temporal horizons, and have
entailed numerous and different social and ecological drivers
Given the multiple and complex ways in which plants, peoples, knowledge
and technologies have diffused across regions, it is perhaps surprising
that most ethnobotanical descriptions have emphasized stasis and
tradition. At the same time, many historical analyses have paid
insufficient attention to the relevance of plants and plant-related
exchanges in shaping subsistence and social processes. There are many
important, yet also under-examined, symbolic, geographical, botanical,
ecological social and political dimensions to the process of
cross-regional plant related exchanges; and the implications of these
processes provide a rich context in which to examine and describe human
history and human-plant interactions. This edited volume seeks to bring
together a collection of articles that explore the dynamics of regional
ethnobotanical exchanges across a broad range of geographical and
historical horizons. We seek papers that provide a critical diachronic
understanding of processes involving transmission, contact and exchange
of plant resources and plant-related knowledge through time, space and
'across-borders'.
Among the specific themes that authors may wish to consider are:
- Plant domestication and the rise of agriculture: social and
ecological transformations
- Diffusion of food plants and dietary habits
- Diffusion of plant-processing technology and the transformation of
subsistence
We strongly encourage papers from a broad range of disciplinary and
theoretical perspectives, including crop science, geography,
archaeology, history, ethnobotany, etc. Papers may focus on ecological,
social or political dimensions or consequences of plant exchanges. We
are particularly interested in exploring the implications of past
exchanges on how human-plant interactions are theorized, including
discussions relating to the authenticity, property and control over
plant resources and associated knowledge.
Timeline
Interested authors should send a title and abstract for consideration
to the editors no later than December 15, 2006. Papers should be
between 5,000-7,000 words long and will need to be submitted no later
than April 30, 2007.
-------------
Dario Novellino (Ph.D)
Honorary Research Fellow
Department of Anthropology,
Marlowe Building,
University of Kent,
Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NR, UK
http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/staff/novellino.html
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