Towards an anthropology of plant names: part 2

Categorising and naming of plants are human constructs which have been employed by different cultures, at different times, using different methods to meet local objectives; a process that has evolved through iterations of indigenous and more recently western advances in human social systems as they try to make sense of the wider environment. An awareness of human life as part of nature allows for further exploration of the different social and natural histories that western and indigenous peoples have employed to inform their classification systems, and their subsequent use or protection of nature. The objective of this second article in a short series is to follow what the anthropologist Tim Ingold presents as ‘a line of enquiry’ – a way of looking at things, opening up paths of growth and discovery that enable us to not overlook the relationships that exist between people, plants and the landscapes that they inherit.