Garden Work: Prosaic Alightments in Modern Ecology and "Kew Gardens"

A hidden ecological epistemology rooted in women's botanical education emerges from Virginia Woolf's 'Kew Gardens,' challenging the male-dominated, speed-driven narratives of modern ecology. The study reveals how Woolf's prose mirrors the detailed, time-sensitive observations of women trained in British school gardens, offering an alternative to the aerial surveillance and photography dominant in 20th-century ecological research. By analyzing the gender dynamics within early British ecology, the research uncovers a marginalized yet significant scientific practice that resists Enlightenment modernity's emphasis on control and order.

Greulich, K. (2021). Garden Work: Prosaic Alightments in Modern Ecology and “Kew Gardens”. Modernism/Modernity, 28(2), 333–353. https://doi.org/10.1353/mod.2021.0023