Monica Gagliano, John Ryan, Patricia Vieira – The Mind of Plants

In what ways might the concept of the mind of plants transform or reinforce popular perceptions of the botanical world?

Throughout history, the idea that plants have a mind of their own has been a prominent feature of literary works, philosophical discourses, and Indigenous peoples’ narratives. Recent scientific research on plant cognition also highlights the capacity of plant life to discern between options and learn from prior experiences or, in other words, to think. The Mind of Plants includes essays, poems, and artwork that interpret the mind of plants theme broadly—from the ways that humans mind and unmind plants to the mindedness or unmindedness of plants themselves. From the ubiquitous rose to the ugly hornwort, from the Amazonian ayahuasca to cannabis, the contributions reflect diverse human interactions with flora.

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About the speakers:

Monica Gagliano is a Research Associate Professor in evolutionary ecology. A former fellow of the Australian Research Council, she is Research Associate Professor (adjunct) at the University of Western Australia and a Member of the Sydney Environment Institute (SEI) at the University of Sydney. She is currently based at Southern Cross University where she directs the BI Lab–Biological Intelligence Lab as part of the Diverse Intelligences Initiative of the Templeton World Charity Foundation. Her work has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory) in plants. Her latest book is Thus Spoke the Plant (North Atlantic Books, 2018). For more information: www.monicagagliano.com.

Patrícia Vieira is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra and Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, at Georgetown University. Her fields of expertise are Latin American and Iberian Literatures and Cultures, Portuguese and Brazilian Cinema, Utopian Studies and the Environmental Humanities. Her most recent monograph is States of Grace: Utopia in Brazilian Culture (SUNY UP, 20018). She is the recipient of a European Research Council Consolidator Grant to work on a project focusing on animals and plants in cultural productions about the Amazon River Basin. For more information visit: www.patriciavieira.net.

John Charles Ryan is Adjunct Associate Professor at Southern Cross University, Australia, and Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at Nulungu Institute, Notre Dame University, Australia. His research focuses on Aboriginal Australian literature, Southeast Asian ecocriticism, environmental humanities, ecopoetics, and critical plant studies. His recent books include Introduction to the Environmental Humanities (2021, authored with J. Andrew Hubbell) and Nationalism in India: Texts and Contexts (2021, edited with Debajyoti Biswas) as well as the botanical poetry collection Seeing Trees: A Poetic Arboretum with Western Australian author Glen Phillips.

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