"Queer Ecologies and Mulberries" with Cate Sandilands

Did you know that yew trees can (and do) change sex? And that many trees are nonbinary? Genderqueer greenery is only one of the fascinating (tree) topics this conversation branches off into. If you want to em-bark on a journey into queer ecologies, this is the sapisode for you. Cate talks about leafing through the herbal archives at Kew Gardens, the role of storytelling in understanding ecologies, and about discovering female forests. Tune in now and everything will be coming up roses – or mulberries. References:Cate Sandilands’ The Good-Natured FeministCate Sandilands’ Rising Tides: Reflections for Climate Changing TimesCate Sandilands’ “Mulberry Intimacies and the Sweetness of Kinship” (Ecologies of Gender)Kew GardensQueer Naturehttps://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/queer-natureJamaica OsorioK-Ming Chang’s BestiaryRosanna McLaughlin’s Sinkhole: Three CrimesCallum Angus’ A Natural History of TransitionJoshua Whitehead’s Making Love with the LoveKing James IAlexis Shotwell’s Against PurityOriana SchwarzenshuberVin NardizziFortingall Yew https://storyingclimatechange.com/Sarah Orne JewettWilla CatherRadclyffe Hall’s The Well of LonelinessDiana SouhamiVita Sackville-West’s The LandAlexis Pauline Gumbs’s Undrowned and M ArchiveShani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms At Night Questions you should be able to respond to after listening: What might queer ecologies be? Can you compare my definition with Cate’s? What is similar, what is different? What roles can storytelling play in climate change and in queer ecologies? What might the ‘Edenic past’ be and how does it relate to ‘purity’? Which species is your life entangled with? Bonus question: In this episode, Cate explains that “A lot of the most interesting thinking proceeds through story as much as it proceeds through theory.” Do you agree?