Critical Plant Studies in Taiwan

“Speaks to the ethnobotanical histories of Taiwan with a comparative literature lens, all through the framework of a relatively new discipline - Ecocriticism. Chapters 2 through 4 deeply informed one of my most recent projects, a zine about Tea in Taiwan from past to present that drew connections from the 19th century beginnings of Taiwan’s tea plantations and contemporary consumer culture related to boba. This anthology critically comments on the relationships between indigeneity, land / labor dispossession, and settler colonialisms. Each chapter unpacks how we understand plants through the literary imagination, analyzing works from natural histories, to traditional poems, to novels.”