The renowned Missouri Botanical Gardens is in St. Louis and has a large collection of plant specimens from all over the world. Our recent visit of the Missouri Botanical Gardens (MOBOT) was to look into the archives in search of plant specimens that could give us indigenous knowledge. We were not very successful.
At MOBOT, each plant specimen is stored in a folder, it has a tangible part of the plant and information about the plant. The information includes the botanist’s name responsible for the discovery, when and where the plant was discovered, the plant’s common uses, scientific and common names, and more that I am probably missing. However, we noticed that there is an absence of indigenous knowledge in these plant specimens.
Unfortunately, these plant specimens only have a singular perspective. Victoria, our herbarium assistant, called these a snapshot of the plant frozen in time, with only the viewpoint of one person. In our observations, Indigenous knowledge and voices were absent and silenced from the herbarium. To unsilence these voices would not be difficult. All we need is botanists to provide more effort, instead of just doing their traditional research strategies. By engaging with and seeking collaboration with indigenous communities during their research trips, botanists could bridge the gap, and finally have a more inclusive representation of knowledge within the herbarium. The Missouri Botanical Garden has the potential to not only preserve plant specimens but also give voices to communities from which these plants originate, which would only lead to the herbarium being a better resource for people around the world.
This is a plant sample that we looked at first. We used this as our example to look at everything that these show and tell us.
On the visit to MOBOT, we got to take a little more information about African American knowledge but it still felt a little lackluster. The only African American specimens we got to look at were George Washington Carver’s. This truly shows that there is still potential and opportunity for improvement for more information in the garden. While talking to the staff they seemed to also have a lack of knowledge of some of the African specimens and lack thereof, which was very disappointing especially when this is part of what they are trained to do research on. It was nice to hear about some of the plants having medicinal properties and other great uses. It truly shows that learning about the plants from other cultures can help us in modern medicine and other great uses. The worker also shared how rare some of these specimens were which shows how important they are. Imagine if we had more African and African American knowledge about these plants. In a lot of the African cultures, we were told that these plants had a lot of spiritual meaning as well. A major thing to note is that a lot of the specimens didn’t have their common name or usages which definitely shows the lack of knowledge the staff has on these specimens.
Native Americans have the most powerfully resonant quiet. Ashley gave our group an explanation of how these Native Americans would have concealed villages inside the Florida swap. To keep people out of their town, they would place these prickly bushes outside. As a result, nobody who tried to find these secret settlements ran the risk of getting wounded because only the locals knew how to get around these plans. We learned from Native Americans that they constantly adapt to their environment and devise new means of doing so. One method we might educate people about how amazing Native Americans are would be to write a book or create a website detailing how they used inventive strategies to combat white people.
This trip to the Garden informed a few parts of our research team’s goal but not in as depth as we would have preferred. In the archival traces worksheet, a concept called “instances of possibility” is mentioned which basically translates to possessing potential. I found that there was an ample amount of room for possibility and potential after reviewing some of the documents. While listening to the employee of the garden describe the details of the specimens, we found that there were not many details at all that would answer our questions explicitly. So instead, we chose to not make evaluations based on what information we had but rather the lack thereof and how this unavailability further informs our search for African American knowledge in the garden. The specimens did have a few common themes such as being used for medicinal purposes. There was even a specimen containing red seeds used as spiritual protection by a specific culture of people. I noticed that the creators of the specimens were mostly the same although this was intentional as the archivist sorted through the archives to tailor to our group’s needs, I thought it was important to note. The worker who went through the specimens with our team mentioned to us how rare it is that the common names and usages of the plants were rarely included in the archives. This does carry that theme of “silencing,” but I am not sure how we would begin to effectively address this in our research teams. The workers in the garden seem to struggle to attain this information and they are trained in this. If the lack of information is the root issue and we either cannot attain it or it is really difficult to, it is not apparent to me how we will get over this hurdle.
The Missouri Botanical Gardens (MOBOT) allowed the CODES cohort to take a deep dive into their herbarium archive to fully understand the biases that may be present in the specimens that are in MOBOT’s herbarium.
These plant specimens that are some seven million in MOBOT’s herbarium all possess the following: barcode, list of location, genus name, species name, local name, and accessioning number (is a special code to look up a specific plant withing the Tropicos database)
In my group within the research team we were given plant specimens mostly from Central and South America, as those regions of the world typically are helped by the local people(s) of that region to help the botanist(s) when they travel to South America to help with the language barrier and the insight knowledge these local botanists would have on the plants located in their own region. There was nothing in particular that stood out about the way the plants were presented within the folder.
This legume shows all aspects of what is on the plant pressings that had been previously mentioned. Notice the special bar code at the top of the pressing and the number right below (this is the accession number)
This specific notes section shows the addition of other botanist’s finding and either their approval or disproval of what the previous botanist had said. It was mentioned by the herbarium assistant that most times, the added name of the other botanists is mostly because they want their name on the finding of something in order to be recognized.
The loudest voices within the collection of these Indigenous plants would be the botanist that collected the plant originally. The bias the original botanists possesses can become prevalent within the description of the plant and/or additional notes that might not appear on the databased information that is available on Tropicos.
There were no voices that had been silenced within the plant description itself solely based on the fact that local botanists assist with any plant that is collected in that local botanist’s area of expertise. The document tags only take a snapshot into the time that the plant was sampled, and it doesn’t show all sides of the story. It’s not like there was a livestream to witness the full interaction of the plant collection. Since the whole moment can’t be processed into words on a plant data collection sheet, this gives examples of a problem of what others might think about the original collector’s opinions.
Following the guest lecture from Dr. Tisha Brooks in CODE 123, the thought process of what to do with the information we received from our garden partners only opens my mind to what all could be done with the few gaps that are present in the specimens. What we found in our archive dive can be the starting building blocks for our further research.
What concepts are you going to learn, or skills are you going to develop?
How will you learn the content/ develop the skill?
What evidence will you add to the portfolio to demonstrate your learning?
How will you and I assess the evidence of your learning/skills?
(20%)Based on (12. A, B, C):
Facilitates collaboration by articulating the benefits of alternative ideas. While also working with others to build on contributions and meet my deadlines and goals.
Using the strategies I used last semester while also improving on things I struggled with last semester
Communicating and collaborating with other students in my group and class to develop solutions
Ethical Research labs
Digital Story map
Revising my portions of the Ethical Research Labs after receiving feedback to show improvement
Using the necessary knowledge document to show how I collaborate with others to generate ideas
(20%)Based on: 8 C.
I will develop clear and relevant responses with information to support my claims in discussions.
Coming prepared to class by reading the assignments and taking notes so I can be able to participate in discussions.
Notes taken before and during class to show how I prepare for discussions
Using sources from SA’s to use that in my discussion points
Seeing me speak out in discussions at least twice a class. When I lead a discussion I will use well-developed questions to help guide the conversation in a productive way
(20%)Based on: 13 A, B, C.
I will demonstrate mastery of the subjects I write about in assignments, display a clear understanding, and use language skillfully to communicate with clarity.
Taking accurate notes for writings
Referring to text when needed in reflections to demonstrate understanding
Turning in assignments before class
Citing references
Using appropriate language in essays
Source Analysis’s will be turned in on time.
I will use feedback to edit and improve my writing
The Missouri Botanical Gardens has a herbarium with collections of preserved plants, specimens, and other data used for studies. One of the best research collections in the world for bryophytes and vascular plants is the herbarium at the Missouri Botanical Garden. These two main plant categories are the only ones included in the collection. In 2018, there were around 7 million specimens in the collection.
Example of plant pressing researchers use.
Although The Missouri Botanical Gardens herbarium is a great place for research to be conducted, wicked problems arise. There are access problems, excluding other systems of knowledge (very Western), and hard to sustain and fund.
One issue the herbarium faces is access problems. In a herbarium, all plants are concentrated in a single location. This wicked problem has no easy solution and can feel irreversible. Herbarium specimens may be vulnerable to deterioration from incorrect storage, water damage, mold, pests, detached specimens, dust, and dirt. Much of the potential damage can be reduced or avoided via proactive conservation.
There are three key bits of information on each herbarium sheet. The physical specimen itself, which consists of stems, leaves, roots, flowers, and fruits, is the most obvious. Researchers may identify the species from these and see how different the individual plants are within and between groups. The foundation for species descriptions and identification keys is the measurements and observations of specimens. The interior chemistry of the specimens can reveal additional information, including genetic information.
Another issue the herbarium faces is that it is Western and excludes other systems of knowledge. Sampling biases can be categorized broadly into various groups. The imbalanced sampling of some taxa or clades over others is known as taxonomic or phylogenetic bias, and it often results from a collector’s scholarly interests or the allure of plants. Geographic bias arises when samples are gathered more frequently in one location compared to another, frequently due to accessibility differences. There are big taxonomic gaps in data on the occurrence of plants worldwide, Strong temporal discontinuities in occurrence records across decades, extensive spatial gaps in areas with high concentrations of plant diversity, particularly in Asia, Central Africa, and the Amazon, and these factors can all make it difficult to draw conclusions about how current and upcoming environmental change will affect plants.
The last wicked problem the herbarium faces is that it’s hard to sustain and fund. Small herbaria’s are not digitizing their collections and making them accessible online for a variety of reasons. several tiny herbaria have challenges like a lack of financing, a staffing shortage, and curators who have several duties outside of the collection (such as teaching, counseling students, and conducting research outside the collections). Prioritizing these efforts becomes even more challenging because curators at smaller institutions frequently do not receive any credit toward promotion for their curatorial responsibilities. Additionally, collection managers and curators who desire to digitize could find it difficult to know where to start and what their alternatives are.
The global distribution of country-wide herbarium specimens.
In conclusion, there are many wicked problems the herbarium faces. Herbarium specimens are used as a source of information on plant species (such as the habitats where they exist, when they flower, and what compounds they contain), as validation or documentation, as a reference for identification, and to record the diversity of plants in a specific geographic area.
References
Harris, Kari M, and Travis D Marsico. “Digitizing Specimens in a Small Herbarium: A Viable Workflow for Collections Working with Limited Resources.” Applications in Plant Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5400430/.
According to chapter three in Sustainable World, written by Sonya Remington-Doucette, a causal chain analysis is “a tool for analyzing socioecological systems by classifying key drivers, establishing the relationships among drivers, and determining their relative influences on a system.” (Remington-Doucette, 123). A causal chain analysis is needed to identify indicators relating to sustainability, link our problem to the drivers that are causing our problem and the extent of them, and to see how human interaction is affecting our problem. Causal chain analysis can be made in different ways. As graphs, charts, or even simply listing them out. Below is a graph example of a causal chain analysis.
To understand our causal chain analysis, we need to identify our problem: Reparative Justice. According to the New England Board of Higher Education, “reparative justice is a way of thinking about justice (a mindset) that centers those who have been harmed, and focuses on repairing past harms, stopping present harm, and preventing the reproduction of harm.” (NEBHE). Within our CODES cohort, we are working with the Missouri Botanical Gardens in order to help emphasize biodiversity within their plant conservation. There are many different problems within the herbarium and their plant catalogs. This is an issue that needs to be stopped right away in order to prevent our future generations from being hurt. Furthermore, it needs to be helped in order for the problem to not repeat itself. As you will see below, there is a chart demonstrating how community, victims, and offenders all tie in together to our theme of reparative/restorative justice.
The Factors that are Relating to Reparative Justice
“Causal chain analysis promotes deeper understanding of sustainability problems by connecting drivers to the problem.” (Remington-Doucette pg. 147) In order to solve any wicked problem, it is very important to know the direct and indirect drivers of a problem. Direct drivers are things/people that have a direct influence on an issue. Indirect drivers are the things/people that are not directly causing a problem, but they are problems that are learning into the direct drivers. In our case of reparative justice, we need to understand our drivers.
Direct and Indirect Drivers Chart Created By Me
Within the chart above, I have identified a few of the possible drivers of our problem. One driver in reparative justice is the lack of historical representation. This can be caused by having bias in choosing what gets displayed at the gardens and online. It can be influenced by the people or group of people who are responsible for this aspect of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Our second driver is the lack of diversity within the plant conservation. This is affected by several indirect drivers. For example, where the data is being taken, when the data was recorded, and who recorded the data. A third direct driver could be a bias in our data. Nowadays, plant conservationists and researchers tend to prioritize western science. Additionally, bias can be affected by the motivation of the person recording the data, who is collecting the data, and when. A final direct driver could be the access to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. However a person decides to view the gardens, whether that be online or in person, it costs money. Entry tickets for the gardens are roughly around $14 depending on the day/time a person plans to visit. Furthermore, if someone wants to access the garden online, they have to have access to the internet (which also costs money).
Causal Chain Analysis Created by Me
As you may see, I took the direct drivers from my first chart, in order to create my causal chain analysis. Even though I chose the main problem as being “cultures may feel overlooked/scammed when visiting the Missouri Botanical Gardens”, there are many different problems an individual may choose based on reparative justice. Reparative justice is a broad term, especially dealing with the gardens because there are many different reasons reparative justice needs to be fixed. Such as healing the individuals/cultures that have been influenced, displaying proper biodiversity within the gardens, and to stop future generations from being hurt by the lack of cultural representation.
In conclusion, according to Sustainable World, written by Sonya Remington-Doucette, a causal chain analysis is “a tool for analyzing socioecological systems by classifying key drivers, establishing the relationships among drivers, and determining their relative influences on a system.” (Remington-Doucette pg 123). A causal chain analysis is very important for individuals who are trying to solve a wicked problem. In our case, we need to act promptly and knowledgeably in order to help restorative justice at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Sources:
“Reparative Justice.” New England Board of Higher Education, https://nebhe.org/reparative-justice/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.CloseDeleteEdit
Defining the systems and classifying the drivers of a specific system.
In my CODES 120 cohort, we are reading “The Sustainable World” by the author, Sonya Remington-Doucette. In the novel, Remington-Doucette reveals the concept of taking a deeper dive and exploring the cause and effect of wicked problems. She uses different techniques to start solving these wicked problems. More specifically we are reading chapter 3 of that book. In chapter 3 we look at defining the systems and classifying drivers. Let’s look at exactly what drivers are. Drivers are separated into two different groups: indirect and direct drivers. direct drivers are defined as clearly and unequivocally influence the behavior of that system. Indirect drivers are defined as drivers that influence the behavior of that system in a more diffuse way, by altering one or more direct drivers.
The herbaria at Missouri botanical gardens are a very beautiful place. The herbarium is a home for many species of plants from all around the world. Some as far as China and others as close as down the street. The Missouri botanical gardens have been around for hundreds of years. Henry Shaw became the founder of the Botanical gardens Saint Louis in the year of 1859. It is widely considered one of the top three most famous botanical gardens. The garden is a national and historic landmark right here in Saint Louis Missouri. Though the garden is beautiful and has come a very long way, there is a past that the garden has. Me and my fellow CODE scholars are still trying to uncover the mysteries and the rooted problems the garden is still recovering from.
Not taking any value from the herbaria at Missouri botanical gardens but even beautiful things can have deep rooted problems. There are many different things we can take away from the chapter 3 of “The Sustainable World” by Remmington Doucette. At the garden there are many different effectors. Even if you look at the plant pressings in the herbarium you can see a few problems of how they are pushing for a westernized science. With that they are suppressing and degrading other cultures and heritages.
The herbaria undergo a series of problems. And the Herbarium itself is at a consent state of a loop of problems. Some new problems and some old. Especially with the gardens using and prioritizing western science. Though western science is not a bad concept I believe it takes away from other cultures and their experiences. With prioritizing the Westernized sciences, we are losing many different experiences and thought processes. A lot of those thought processes and experiences can be very helpful tools to the Herbarium.
Within this chart I made above I am taking a deeper dive into the herbarium and its problems. Classifying the drivers and indirect drivers and their connections to the herbarium. As of right now I cannot say we have a defined answer to all of the problems we are facing but we are now a few steps ahead to where we used to be.
Yet we are still nowhere near the finish line of this problem. We can continue to work with the garden and pulling recourses from different gardens and different scholars as well.
A current state analysis is a process used to evaluate and understand the present-day situation of any given system. Looking at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, our system is the wicked problem of inequality in plant knowledge. There are 4 questions that we should ask ourselves as researchers for this process: 1) Where are we? 2) Where are we headed? 3) Where do we want to go? and 4) How do we get there?
A system can be best described as a set of interconnected components organized in such a way that they cannot act individually and achieve the same results. Regulation of these systems is conducted through direct drivers and indirect drivers. Direct drivers unequivocally impact the overall behavior of a system. Indirect drivers influence the system’s behavior in a more diffuse and subtle way. (Make sure to refer thinking in systems back to the textbook)
Our research problem in The Missouri Botanical Gardens is an example of a complex adaptive system meaning that it develops over time to adapt in a way that ensures its survival. When you approach this system using reductionist thinking, you can more clearly see how the components interact with each other on a smaller scale. Pictured below is a system of a few direct and indirect drivers that contribute to the issue of plant inequality at MOBOT.
Diagram of direct and indirect drivers created by Aaliyah Lindsey
One of the most impactful direct drivers in this situation is the practice of colonialism extraction used to retreive the plants. This selection process is biased in every aspect incluidng where the plants are collected from, what plants are collected, and who collects the plants. Usually, white men get to decide all of these things which means that the plant selction is often rooted in personal biases and preferences. This breeds an indirect driver of cultural insensitivity. The people who depend on these plants locally often get no say in the extraction of these plants that have medicinal and nutritous uses for them. Taking these plants from their space and transporting it for research else where might provoke strong feelings of anger and despair.
The prioritization of western science is another direct driver for our system. The complete disregarding or minimization of indigenous knowledge of plant has resulted in a collection of plant knowledge curated almost entirely by the minds of white men. Western science is based on things such as global verifacation, quantatative written record, and mathematical models. Traditonal Native knowledge is rooted in things such as qualitative world record, practical application, and holistic thinking. These two approaches to research and science should be carefully integrated and applied when collecting plant specimens and when the binomial nomenclature process is being conducted. Although these systems of thinking should be combined its essential that their is emphasis placed on the traditonal native knowledge because the plants are local to their areas and are heavily relied upon by the native people.
say something tabout the image
The names given to plants by the Native people are particularly important to understanding not only the cultural knoweldge surrounding it. It also gives entail about the uses of the plant.
A societal or cultural problem is referred to as a “wicked problem” when it cannot be resolved because of a lack of information or knowledge that is inconclusive, a large number of people and points of view, a heavy financial burden, or the interconnectedness of the problem with other problems. Wicked problems are characterized as problems that cannot be solved; on the contrary, easy fixes are problems that have a straightforward and fast way of solving them. An easy fix seeks to solve the immediate problem but may not solve the underlying problem.
Wicked Problems are complicated. Photo from The Medical Republic.
The Missouri Botanical Gardens can be seen as a wicked problem. Page 68 of our class text, Sustainable World, talks about the six characteristics of wicked problems. These characteristics are vague problem definition, undefined solution, no endpoint, irreversible, unique, and urgent. The Missouri Botanical Gardens fits under a wicked problem because it goes with these characteristics.
Missouri Botanical Gardens, Photo by Priscilla Kincanon
The first characteristic is the vague problem definition. There is diversity among stakeholders. Not everyone will agree with the issues that go along with the problem. There are many factors like geographic locations, different capacities to deal with it, different cultures, beliefs, values, and informal norms. Slavery played a crucial role in both the history of the United States and the city of St. Louis. Slavery left a lasting impression on our state, our city, and the Missouri Botanical Garden, from the Missouri Compromise to the legal dispute between Dred and Harriet Scott to the deeds of notable people in St. Louis history, such as Henry Shaw.
The next characteristic is the undefined solution. There is no definite solution when there’s a wicked problem. MBOT has a few methods. Most of what we know about the people enslaved by Shaw comes from archival records—bills of sale, tax records, census records, newspaper ads, and an early version of Shaw’s will. Examination of these records and the broader history they represent was carried out in collaboration with organizations and institutions that engage with challenging history.
Another characteristic is that there’s no endpoint. There are no final solutions to wicked problems. This is one of the methods MOBOT is using. More than 30 pages of pertinent documents from The Garden’s archives have been converted to digital format. We wish to provide others the chance to conduct their own study about the lives of the people featured here by making these source papers freely available to the public.
“Receipts show a cash advance for information, and later a bill for boarding Sarah in one of Lynch’s holding facilities.” Photo from Missouri Botanical Gardens website.
The fourth characteristic is irreversible. The text says “Implementing a solution creates changes in the world that cannot be undone and will have real consequences.” (Remington-Doucett, 68). The garden is working on good solutions. Here is another one. The Garden continues to provide interpretive programming, displays, signage, and significant methods to communicate this heritage with our neighborhood. They invite everyone to continue on this path toward being a welcoming community.
The 5th characteristic is unique. There are certain factors that go into a wicked problem that mean that the same solution will not work in all places. There are factors like cultural, political, social, environmental, technological, economic, and other issues depending on the problem. Shaw’s contacts with slavery were not isolated, which in no way excuses his behavior. Henry Shaw’s history is entwined with the histories of St. Louis, Missouri, and the United States as a whole. In this way, the recording of Shaw’s personal history aids in our comprehension of this larger history.
Characteristic number six is the one of a wicked problem and it is urgent. If there is no action right away, it could result in permanent harm to humans and/or natural systems. The textbook, Sustainable World, states “solutions must often be pursued prior to fully understanding the problem.” (Remington-Doucett, 69). The garden is working on fully understating the issue. The Missouri Botanical Garden webpage is where I get this next information. While keeping his city townhouse, Shaw opened the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1859 and spent a lot of time at Tower Grove House. Again, the lack of documents makes it difficult to determine where or for what types of jobs these slaves were employed.
Tax records indicate that by 1853 Shaw owned as many as eleven enslaved people. Photo from Missouri Botanical Gardens website.
Based on the material at our disposal, we are unable to declare with certainty if the Garden itself was constructed by slaves. It seems likely that Shaw’s slaves at this time were doing forced domestic labor at Tower Grove House, such as cooking and cleaning, based on the ages and genders indicated in the 1860 census.
The Garden is dedicated to expanding on its efforts to share the narratives of Shaw’s slaves and to draw attention to other individuals and underrepresented groups who have contributed to the Garden’s current success. The garden’s behavior and its duty to the community it serves are informed by understanding and respecting this past. To make these stories a more prominent part of the visiting experience, the Garden is actively reviewing the signage and display space on this wicked problem.
