News & Events

Sociology & Anthropology

Sociology & Anthropology Events

November 14th, 2024

“Picturing Botanical Imperialism in the Americas”

Picturing Botanical Imperialism in the Americas

Maggie Cao
Associate Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina

Lecture and Q&A sponsored by the Department of Art and Art History

Summary: The circulation of plants has long been tied to considerations of climate. Today climate change endangers many native species while exacerbating the negative impact of invasives. This talk explores artists’ engagements with plants in the context of imperialism past and present. The most famous landscape painter of the nineteenth-century US, Frederic Edwin Church, was a master of painting the flora of the American tropics. This talk will explore his paintings of Jamaica and the ways they engaged with botanical understandings of colonialism and emancipation. The legacy of Church’s nineteenth-century botanical imagery will be examined through contemporary artist Maria Thereza Alves’s ongoing Seeds of Changeproject, in which unearthed seeds from historic ballast sites are used to grow gardens. These gardens generated from waste—the dumped rocks, earth, and sand that once balanced merchant vessels—invert the history of colonialism told by the hothouse displays and herbarium collections of the past.

Location

F.W. Olin Building, Room 110

Date & Time

November 14 - 4:30pm - 5:45pm

Sociology & Anthropology News

Amiel Padayhag ’20 Reflects on Her Experience Participating in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program in the Philippines

Anthropology and feminist studies alumna Amiel Padayhag ’20 earned a 2023-2024 Fulbright U.S. Student Program Award to conduct anthropological research in the Philippines. Explore her first-hand account of the experience below.
Meet Our World-Class Faculty: Adriana Ponce

A conversation with Assistant Professor of Sociology Adriana Ponce.
Sociology Major Wins First Place in Nationwide Paper Competition

Elena Clark’s ’24 capstone project won top honors in Alpha Kappa Delta’s prestigious national undergraduate paper competition.
Meet Our World-Class Faculty: Amanda Hernandez

A conversation with Assistant Professor of Sociology Amanda Hernandez.
Discovering Southwestern’s Untold History

SCOPE project shines a light on two stories of minority athletes.
Southwestern Joins International Slavery Study Consortium

Through the Southwestern Racial History Project, faculty and students are sharing their knowledge and expertise with colleagues through the Universities Studying Slavery consortium.
Southwestern’s First Fully Tenured Black Faculty Member Reggie Byron Will Leave a Legacy of Change and Passion for Research

His experience at Southwestern has been one of a dedicated scholar and faculty member but also of a Southwestern community member who has changed the university in ways that prepare it for a more diverse future.
Finding Home(s)

For sociology and feminist studies double major Madeline Carrola ’19, the Southwestern Experience has informed her roles at organizations supporting individuals experiencing homelessness.
Southwestern Student Wins Marketing EDGE Scholarship

ThuyMi Phung is the first SU student to receive the prestigious honor.
A Summer Well Spent

Four Southwestern students relate their experiences as community-engaged learning associates with nonprofit organizations during the summer of 2020.

Show 10 more... (29 total)