What stories do plants tell? And how do their names sound in different languages?
These questions shaped a PLURI Club at SPORE HAUS in Berlin about plants, knowledge and languages, with guests Abeni and Dr. Sonja Eisenbeiß.
Abeni (@asantewaa.lineage) introduced us to decolonial botany. She shared stories about traditional plant knowledge and healing practices, and about women who used plants in resistance movements. In the discussion that followed, we asked how much we know about the traditional names of plants and their properties. We also talked about how traditional knowledge, scientific findings and ecological responsibility can come together, and how these topics can be brought into educational spaces in creative ways.
With Sonja Eisenbeiß, we explored plants hands-on. We smelled, touched and identified the plants she had brought along, collected their names in different languages and shared stories about them. She also presented materials for educational work, including a kit for collecting and teaching and the Sprachspinat concept, which uses plants and gardening as a playful way into multilingual learning.
In the exchange that followed, we shared our own experiences and discussed which approaches we could take into our own work.
