We ask: how might these forms of stewardship and connection with more-than-human kin push us to rethink development, agriculture, and conservation as culturally embedded and relational fields of practice?

If you will be New Orleans, please join us on Saturday from 2:30-4:30! (3/3)

I have co-organized a panel with my dear friend and colleague Youyi Xie for the American Anthropological Association meeting this week. Our panel focuses on agrifood systems and explores how Indigenous peoples and local communities across Latin America are navigating socioecological change. (1/3)

In my happy place with dozens of Passiflora at the Jardín Botánico de Bogotá yesterday!

Genus Espletia, commonly know as Frailejónes. Perhaps the plant most known and associated with the paramos of Colombia. (Pic 3 is the plants’ view of Bogotá)

Acacia baileyana is common in my new Bogotá neighborhood. It’s always interesting seeing how cities landscape certain neighborhoods, and I never feel settled or at home until I know who my plant neighbors are!

Passiflora tarminiana on the streets of Bogotá. Passiflora never cease to amaze me—one of my favorite genera for sure!

Dietes bicolor on the streets of Bogotá! (cultivated)

Not a bad work from home view!
(Bogotá, Colombia)

(3/3) I also met new friends and future collaborators who work in the Amazon! And, attended a great lecture from Dr. Puri about the importance of ethnobotanical fieldwork that centers relationship-building and community engagement while exploring the connections between plants + people.

(2/3) My talk was titled "Agroforestry, livelihoods, and knowledge: the dynamic role of chagras in a shifting socioecological landscape". I presented the results of my past 2 field seasons in the Colombian Amazon, and received some useful feedback for my upcoming year in the field.

(1/3) In June I traveled to Prague for the annual meeting of the Society for Ethnobotany. This was my first SEB meeting and it was a joy to meet and learn from other interdisciplinary researchers who are not quite entirely botanists, anthropologists, or geographers, but a mix!

I have been delighted to spend the last few weeks in the University of Georgia herbarium and greenhouses! I've learned how to mount, process and file specimens, and so much more. Now I'm just waiting on a plant from Ireland (or Colombia) to finally cross my desk!

My current fav is Ophrys apifera --the bee orchid, which mimics a bee to attract pollinators! I developed a love for this wildflower last summer while on the West coast of Ireland.

Hi all! I'm Aoife, a plant lover+ PhD candidate in the Anthropology and Integrative Conservation Program at UGA. I work with farmers in the Colombian Amazon to explore synergies between shifting agriculture, livelihoods, and biodiversity conservation.

What's your favorite plant? 🌲