Plants have traditionally been reduced to the role of passive bystander, ornamental backdrop, or mere symbol. While posthumanism and environmental humanities have brought non-human agency into focus in recent years, they emphasize animals, landscapes, and ecosystems writ large. This research network focuses on the conceptualization of plants, their agency, and their cultural/natural impact in order to shape the emerging field of literary and cultural plant studies.

For this purpose, we bring together scholars across disciplines who work with a wide range of approaches from already established fields such as animal studies, environmental humanities, posthumanism, traditional philology, eco-criticism, language philosophy, cultural as well as queer and gender studies