Mapping Plants and Their Movements in and across Contemporary Francophone Narratives

Abstract

In April 2021, the interactive digital platform Cartographie littéraire des plantes à travers quelques récits/Literary Cartography of Plants in and across Narratives went live after four years of research conducted jointly by researchers from UQÀM and McGill University, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (L’imaginaire botanique 2024). Building on various interactive functionalities, the platform presents multiple mappings and cross-readings of ten plants and fifteen contemporary Francophone narratives (1985–2020). Intended for botany and literary enthusiasts, professionals, and amateurs alike, it seeks to stimulate curiosity about literary plants, deepen knowledge about plants and their habitats, and encourage exchanges between digital and environmental humanists. The present article presents a moment of reflection and critique about this project, from which have emerged more questions than answers. At the intersection of the digital humanities, plant studies, and literary cartography, our article outlines the shifts in perspective that the development of this interactive digital platform required of us and our relationships to plants. Instead of offering a chronological account, we prefer to draw inspiration from the pitfalls encountered along the way and so do justice to the intellectual trials and tribulations that have brought us closer to the plant world. Moreover, it is in large part due to a collective approach of literary scholars, graphic designers, and a software developer that we have been able to discover plants and their movements from so many different angles. Our multi-authored article aims to illustrate the importance of such interdisciplinary work when it comes to understanding plants and their movements.