Postnormal Conservation

Katja Grötzner Neves is Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University, Canada.

"Anyone interested in climate change and how enlightened governments can help ensure the biodiversity of the planet will find this a compelling book. It is full of dramatic examples illustrating how politics and personal interests must combine to save the planet as we know it, or perhaps more accurately, as it once was … Highly recommended." — CHOICE"This is a unique contribution to the study of 'green' neoliberalism. I do not know of another scholarly book that undertakes an analysis of the global history of botanical gardens in relation to political/economic formations and transformations. This is an outstanding and deeply significant work." — Tracey Heatherington, author of Wild Sardinia: Indigeneity and the Global Dreamtimes of Environmentalism"Neves has undertaken a comprehensive review of pertinent literature to create an argument that traditional approaches to conservation no longer apply and that we need to adopt a holistic approach that considers both species and cultural preservation. The future of our planet depends on it. This is an important book that points to a central role for botanic gardens in preserving and celebrating the biological and cultural diversity of this planet." — Donald A. Rakow, Cornell University

• ForewordPeter Stoett and Owen Temby Acknowledgments Introduction 1I.1 Botanic Gardens and the Reordering of Biodiversity ConservationI.2 Trouble in the Garden: Facing the Anthropocene’s Onto-Epistemological ChallengesI.3 "Ontopolitics," Postnormal Science, and Governance in the AnthropoceneI.4 The Transnational Embededness of Botanical Garden Biodiversity GovernanceI.5 Chapter Overview 32 1. Botanical Garden Histories of Governance1.1 Opening Vignette: Writing Postnormal Conservation 1.2 Botanic Gardens, Modernity, and Governance1.3 The Reinvention of Botanic Gardens as Agents of Biodiversity Conservation in the Anthropocene1.4 Life-Governing Rationalities and Coexisting Environmentalities: Botanic Gardens as Institutions of Governance1.5 Chapter Conclusions 2. Botanical Knowledge, Power, and Governance: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the Longue Durée 2.1 Opening Vignette: From Economic Botany to the Botany of Conservation2.2 Planting Empires, Growing Economies: The Gilded Age of Botanic Gardens2.3 Risen from the Ashes? Kew’s Rebirth as Center of Calculation in the Anthropocene2.4 People and Plants at Kew: Challenges and Adaptations2.5 Chapter Conclusions 3. Postnormal Conservation at Espace Pour la Vie 3.1 Opening Vignette: Challenges and Paradoxes of Twenty-First-Century Governance3.2 Coproducing the Monarch Butterfly as a Hyperboundary Object3.3 A "First Point of Contact with Nature": Relational Monarch Ontologies of Conservation3.4 Butterflies, Public Engagement, and Postnormal Conservation3.5 Chapter Conclusions 4. Communities in Nature: Multispecies Care at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Bristol Zoo Gardens4.1 Opening Vignette: "Communities in Nature"4.2 Doing "Conservation ‘Stuff’ in Place, around the Planet": The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s Edible Gardening Project4.3 Creating Champions for the Future: "Once You Think about It, the Possibilities Are Unlimited..."4.4 Lessons Learned from Communities in Nature 4.5 Chapter Conclusions 5. Concluding Remarks NotesReferencesIndex