Ecological Visions in Maryse Condé's 'Moi, Tituba sorcière... Noire de Salem'

Abstract

The ‘plantationocene’, the concept that will inform this paper’s discussion of botanical knowledge and and healing in Maryse Condé’s 1986 fictionalised historical of Moi Tituba, sorcière, evokes the history of enslaved-dependent growing practices, the global scale of the economy these supported, and their enduring impact on social, cultural and environmental realities. Although the concept is still in the early stages of refinement, defining the plantationocene begins with an acknowledgement that the environmental crisis we now face cannot be disentangled from the historical relationship imperialism established with the environment. At the same time, the plantationocene’s history of extraction and violence demands a renewed emphasis on decolonising ecological knowledge. It requires bringing into focus the resistance represented by the small-scale subsistence practices of the enslaved and shining a light on the nature of the specific ecological knowledge and skills that they possessed.