Rötter i rörelse: kulturarv på trädgårdens marknader

Garden plants as well as other garden items are today circulated on a highly commercialised market with limited local connections. However, parallel to the commercial activities connected to gardening, there is also a more informal circulation, e.g. through the sharing of seeds, bulbs, cuttings and plants. Both on the
commercial market and in private, informal and alternative contexts, heritage aspects are often acknowledged as a value. Just like vintage clothes or retro style furniture, ‘old’ varieties of garden plants are today often associated with ‘heritage value’ when circulated at different kinds of markets.
This project will examine the role of heritage in the exchange of e.g. plants with history, based on a critical perspective on heritage-making.
The aim of this project is to examine how cultural heritage is produced and articulated within contemporary, formal as well as informal, markets for garden-related items and services. At the intersection between garden, heritage and market crucial questions concerning contemporary ideals can be raised; questions related to the role of the past in the present, relations between people and plants, nature/culture, and the
making of values. One of the central research questions is: Where, when and how is heritage articulated as a value at markets related to gardening? The project includes a postdoc.