Understories: Plants and Culture in the American Tropics

Understories: Plants and Culture in the American Tropics explores the importance of plants in shaping societies and cultural imaginaries in the American tropics, highlighting the influence of colonization, globalization, and power on nature.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 12 December 2023
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Understories: Plants and Culture in the American Tropics delves into the profound significance of plants in the histories and cultures of the vast tropical region spanning from the U.S. South to Argentina. By closely examining a selection of significant plants, including cacao, mate, agave, the hevea brasilensis, kudzu, breadfruit, soy, and the ceiba pentandra, among others, this volume demonstrates that vegetal life has played a central role in shaping societies and in formulating cultural and environmental imaginaries within and beyond the region. Through a diverse range of cultural traditions and forms across literature, popular music, art, and film, the essays included in this volume transcend regional and linguistic boundaries to bring together multiple plant-centered histories or 'understories'—narratives that have previously been marginalized or overlooked. This book not only explores the significant influence of humans on plants but also examines the reciprocal impact of plants on humans, offering fresh insights into how colonization, globalization, and power have been intertwined with nature in the American tropics.

Dimension: 239 x 163 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781837644735