Description
Like “the rule of the jungle”, metaphors of trees inform theorists’ imagination of international relations. While these metaphors imagine “the jungle” as lawless, anarchic backdrops against which the fittest survive, plant science shows forest as interdependent networks where trees communicate and “care” for other creatures in their ecological systems. Building on critical plant studies and emerging works in IR, this paper highlights that human-plant relations are entangled lifeworlds. It problematizes the politics behind trees – why and how certain tree species are trans-localized and become a symbol of prestige outside their native ecological habitats, whereas others are exploited in their native environments by metropoles. With the cases of oaks, money puzzle trees, and rubber trees, we demonstrate that global projects, like imperialism and globalisation, have an inherent ecological dimension and are embodied by the trans-localization of trees. They actively sustained the making of the globe, at times resisted extraction, and are inherently political. Yet existing IR knowledge has said little on this. We sketch a relational ontology of multiplex human-nature entanglements that both account for its ‘dark side’ and allow for hopeful philosophies towards emancipation. Setting the agenda towards a “multispecies IR”, this article lays a conceptual foundation for rethinking the substances that we consider as international relations.
