Tag: Plants
-
Fragmented Floras
I’m pleased to share that my paper Fragmented Floras: Ontologies of Medicinal Plant Fragments in Bogotá’s Markets is currently under review. The text grows from my larger research project, Fragmented Ecologies, which investigates how fragments—of plants, substances, and stories—circulate as forms of knowledge, care, and classification in Bogotá’s urban markets. Drawing on fieldwork at Plaza Samper Mendoza—known as…
-
The Market After the Market
This field note is part of Fragmented Ecologies. When the night ends at Samper Mendoza, the market doesn’t really close—it exhales. Around dawn, the aisles empty, the lights dim, and the ground begins to show what the commerce of care leaves behind. I arrive just as the sweepers begin their rounds. Plastic bags rustle. Brooms drag.…
-
Six Specimens, Many Classifications
This is a field note part of Fragmented Ecologies. Every week at Samper Mendoza, I return to the same stalls and yet find new plants, new names, and new configurations. The market never repeats itself. This time, I began classifying—not scientifically, but fragmentographically. I selected six specimens: flor blanca, ruda, pepinillos, uña de gato, calaguala, and pasiflora. Each one…
-
The Long Goodbye at Samper Mendoza
This field note is part of Fragmented Ecologies. Friday, July 18, 2025. 7:32 am On Mondays and Thursdays after 10 pm, I walk into Plaza Samper Mendoza with a small notebook and a phone camera. It’s a popular nocturnal herb market in Bogotá, Colombia—rows of dried leaves, bundled roots, and bottled syrups. My project here is simple…