Here's an odd enquiry: I am kicking around the idea of trying to explore
the ways in which gardening entails a series of practices and
representations relating both to property and to nature (and in turn, draws
upon all sorts of gendered and racialised understandings of appropriate
types of uses of property and nature). I'd really appreciate any leads that
any one might have.
In part, this interest comes out of a desire to think through the Lockean
notion of property (as in mixing one's labour with the land); in part, it
stems from a wish to try and think through the more mundane ways in which
law, society and space intersect. It also comes out of my experiences as a
'householder' and gardener, both private and communal. More generally, the
figure of the garden seems to figure in some odd ways in various
theoretical claims. For some feminists, for example, garden-like metaphors
are used to oppress women (cf the garden of Eden); for other feminists, the
practical activities and small scale visual field of the garden entails a
challenge to masculinist views of 'landscape'. For some legal theorists,
the garden is a metaphor for an inward looking, conservative and parochial
mindset, associated for example with English common law, for others, the
political possibilities associated with communal forms of gardening are a
direct challenge to an indiviualised notion of property and a domineering
notion of nature.
The sorts of things I'm interested in include, possibly, the following
questions:
what do people do when they 'garden'? Is gardening one's yard part of the
process of inscribing a property claim in the landscape? What sorts of
relations vis-a-vis nature does this entail?
What happens when people engage in more 'public' forms of gardening -
ranging from horticultural incursions onto the street to more organised
forms of collective gardening - eg community gardens?
How are these practices cross cut by race and gender? Are men and women
expected to engage in different gardening practices (eg men grow big
vegetables, while women grow flowers)?
Any thoughts, criticisms or leads would be most welcome.
Nick Blomley
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Nick Blomley
Department of Geography
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6,
CANADA
(604) 291-3713 (tel)
(604) 291-5841 (fax)
[log in to unmask] (email)
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