Seeds of Change: New York, a botany of colonization, 2017-2018

Abstract

The text critically explores the processes by which non-native plants, mostly European, were introduced to the East Coast of the USA – especially New York and New Jersey – through ship ballast, transforming the local ecosystem. It highlights the impact of colonialism on the transformation of the region's flora and topography, emphasizing the relationship between the exploitation of resources and environmental and social violence. Alves argues that the soil and plants of New York bear witness to the colonial past and points to the need to recognize these landscapes as a product of colonial violence.