Paper short abstract:

Drawing from ethnographic research on the Eucalyptus in Sardinia (Italy) from a multispecies perspective, the paper reflects on what kind of methodology and ethnographic material emerged by investigating an unwanted plant.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing from ethnographic research as a part of a film project about Eucalyptus in Sardinia (Italy), the contribution shows what kinds of stories of eco-colonialism and non-human dwelling can we tell by interviewing a plant.

The first specimens of Eucalyptus were collected in 1770. About a Century later, Eucalyptus represented a strategic species in connection with the reclaiming of wetlands, mine depletion, and the development of railway infrastructures. Nowadays, the presence of the Eucalyptus often relates to environmental conflicts as a key plant in the new economy of energetic transition (Meloni 2021). Stories of environmental justice, territorial depletion, human and non-human displacement, and biodiversity and land rights ‘losses’ characterize the history of the Gum tree’s presence in non-native lands (Shiva and Bandyopadhyay 1985; Badalamenti et al. 2018).

Together with two filmmakers, we overturned the camera’s eye in an attempt to take on the plant’s perspective. Following the root of the Eucalyptus led us to stories of love and care for the plant previously neglected. These stories appear to shed light and offer new contributions to the history of human-plant relationships.

Conceptually moving within multispecies ethnography and the emergent field of Critical Plant Studies (Stobbe 2019), the paper shows the stories emerging by following the Eucalyptus presence far from their native land and reflects on what can be the methodological strategies to achieve an inquiry attuned to a plant story? Finally, the contribution questions what the story of a neglected plant tells us about past and future human/non-human modes of co-inhabits.