Project: Plant/People

Plant/People is a community-embedded life story and oral history project that amplifies and celebrates the resilience of health-related plant practices in and around this place where we live, Mnísota Maǩóče. We talk with, listen to, and record stories from folks from varied racial, economic, and cultural communities, including herbalists, foragers, basket-makers, musicians, conservationists, gardeners, educators, and many others. Some of these participants are relatively well known in the region. Most are regular people connected in one way or another through relationships and community ties, who create health for themselves, their people, and the more than human world by working with plants.

This project is currently headed by Macey Flood and Emily Beck, with a changing group of supporters and mentors that has included community members, students, colleagues, and friends. As of August 2023 we have recorded 48 interviews. Plant/People is also a platform for get-togethers, community workshops, health and plant humanities curriculum development, public and academic talks, and all manner of support for the cultural specificity and continued resilience of human/plant relations.

Support from MnT helped us connect with folks at the University and locally, think through this project from scope to methodology, and just generally level it up. Crucially, we were able to hire several incredible undergraduate interns who helped us dream, take pictures, make videos, bounce ideas, share favorite interview moments, and wade through the huge amount of back-of-house labor needed for this project, from editing transcripts to creating a website. We we also able to support a graduate student doing outstanding work on the role of arts in cultural and ecological resilience. Visit us online at z.umn.edu/PlantPeople. Listen, learn, and suggest other plant people for us to reach out to!