“The role of indigenous knowledge in the development of botanical gardens and the science of botany since 1492.”

Op 18 December om 12:00 uur ben je van harte welkom bij de lezing van etnobotanist Tinde van Andel: “De rol van inheemse kennis in de ontwikkeling van botanische tuinen en de wetenschap van de botanie sinds 1492”. Deze lezing zal in het Engels zijn en zal worden gevolgd door een Q&A.

About the lecture:

Ethnobotanist Tinde van Andel will narrate the story of the first plants that were taken from the Americas to Europe, namely potatoes, tomatoes, and chili peppers. Van Andel will give examples of how living and dead plant specimens and drawings were sent to the Netherlands from its colonies, with or without traditional knowledge, and why this was the case. The lecture will then especially focus on the situation in Brazil and Suriname in the 17th and 18th centuries. Approaches to museums’ decolonization will be presented and the rarely acknowledged voices of those indigenous peoples who have helped botanists for centuries to collect information will be shown. The lecture concludes with van Andel’s presentation of her own research in the realm of interconnecting ethnobotanical studies and collections with the descendants of those people that once supplied information to botanists all these centuries ago.