Cultivating biodiverse futures at the (postcolonial) botanical garden

Abstract

This article examines ecological practices at the Palestine Museum of Natural History in Bethlehem, West Bank. Through an analysis of the museum's botanical gardens, the article explores what it calls ‘biodiverse futures’ as a spatio‐temporal alternative to the ecological domination of settler colonialism in Israel/Palestine. While much scholarship has focused on the environmental imaginaries that have informed colonial conquest in Palestine, this paper draws attention to the ways in which these relationships extend into constructions of the future. Combining the literature on environmental violence with the literature on futurity and decolonisation, this article develops an approach that foregrounds the relevance of ‘ecological temporalities’ in examining alternatives to settler futures in Israel/Palestine. To date, only a limited number of contributions have examined environmentalism as a powerful discursive tool for constructing the future. The case of the museum gardens highlights three interrelated aspects of the production of ecological counter‐futures: futures as knowledge, futures as (bio)diversity, and futures as survival. Drawing on ethnographic material and interviews with museum staff and volunteers, this paper contributes to the study of the temporalities of environmental violence and ecological resistance in Israel/Palestine.

Innovation as erasure: Palestine and the new regional alliances of technology

“…The paper also draws from and contributes to the recent geographical work on settler colonial temporalities and technologies. From slowness to acceleration, and from colonial nostalgia to white settler futurities, this work has shown how a multiplicity of temporalities accompany settler colonial projects of dispossession and erasure (Hassouna, 2023; Joronen, 2021; Tarvainen, 2022). ‘Innovation’, as a powerful marker of futurity, partakes in the production of settler times and spaces.…”

“…‘Innovation’, as a powerful marker of futurity, partakes in the production of settler times and spaces. Instead of portraying future‐making as the homogenous realm of settlers, work on Palestine has shown how alternative, decolonising futurities are constantly being created and practiced in lived spaces of indignity (Hassouna, 2023). Critical analyses of technology have also importantly highlighted how Palestine has been ‘constructed as an empty space waiting to be revived by superior technologies’ (Hassouna, 2023, p.4).…”

“…Instead of portraying future‐making as the homogenous realm of settlers, work on Palestine has shown how alternative, decolonising futurities are constantly being created and practiced in lived spaces of indignity (Hassouna, 2023). Critical analyses of technology have also importantly highlighted how Palestine has been ‘constructed as an empty space waiting to be revived by superior technologies’ (Hassouna, 2023, p.4). Recent works have shown how various ‘innovative’ technologies from digital maps to social media, and from AI to cybersecurity, continue this history (7amleh, 2019; Carraro, 2021; Goodfriend, 2021; Tawil‐Souri, 2012), processes in which the ‘eliminatory speed’ of technology gives an edge for Israeli settler colonialism over Palestinians (Ghantous & Joronen, 2022).…”

Gaza: A decolonial geography

“…Across this work, a detailed picture of spatial segregation emerges, or specifically how colonial space is multiple and mutable. Depending on which parts of Palestine they live in, Palestinians are severely restricted in movement (Griffiths & Repo, 2020, 2021; Hammami, 2015, 2019; Rijke & Minca, 2018, 2019; Tawil‐Souri, 2009, 2017); facing forced displacements and demolitions of their homes (Harker, 2009; Joronen & Griffiths, 2019; Shalhoub‐Kevorkian, 2009); under the surveillance of settler civil society (Griffiths, 2023; Medien, 2023); caught within uncertain bureaucratic and juridical processes (Berda, 2017; Joronen, 2017b); military practices of (non) ‘ethical’ operations (Jones, 2023; Puar, 2017); de‐development (Roy, 1999; Smith, 2016); infrastructure and practices of urban land grabbing (Alkhalili, 2017a, 2017b; Alkhalili et al., 2014; Joudah, 2020; Porter & Yiftachel, 2017; Salamanca & Silver, 2022); an assault on the animating function of hope and future (Abu Hatoum, 2021; Amir, 2021; Hassouna, 2024; Meneley, 2021); the more‐than‐human geographies of subjugation (Bishara et al., 2021; Braverman, 2021, 2023; Griffiths, 2022; Joronen, 2023; Stamatopoulou‐Robbins, 2022); and a general suppression of Palestinian political and cultural expression (Alqaisiya, 2018; Järvi, 2023). If here we are reference‐heavy, it is in the service of collating reading resources that can contribute to a decolonial politics that is informed through robust geographical inquiry.…”

Botanic Gardens in Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainability: History, Contemporary Engagements, Decolonization Challenges, and Renewed Potential

“…This, for instance, had an impact on the African continent during the 1990s and early 2000s when a form of neoliberal biodiversity conservation sought to implement Eurocentric visions of nature preservation that were often at odds with local knowledge practices and priorities [74,75]. The literature on botanic gardens confirms that indeed colonial dynamics can be reproduced in the context of contemporary biodiversity conservation, as exemplified in South Africa [33,76], British Columbia, Canada [65], and Palestine [77,78].…”