Mapping Plants and Their Movements in and across Contemporary Francophone Narratives
Authors: Posthumus Stephanie , Bouvet Rachel , Dubé Noémie , Bilodeau Jean-Pascal 
Published: February 2024

In April 2021, the interactive digital platform Cartographie litt&eacute;raire des plantes &agrave; travers quelques r&eacute;cits/Literary Cartography of Plants in and across Narratives went live after four years of research conducted jointly by researchers from UQ&Agrave;M 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&ndash;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.
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En avril 2021, la plateforme num&eacute;rique interactive Cartographie litt&eacute;raire des plantes &agrave; travers quelques r&eacute;cits/Literary Cartography of Plants in and across Narratives a &eacute;t&eacute; mise en ligne apr&egrave;s quatre ann&eacute;es de recherche men&eacute;es conjointement par des chercheurs de l'UQ&Agrave;M et de l'Universit&eacute; McGill, financ&eacute;es par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada (L'imaginaire botanique 2024). S'appuyant sur diverses fonctionnalit&eacute;s interactives, la plateforme pr&eacute;sente de multiples cartographies et lectures crois&eacute;es de dix plantes et de quinze r&eacute;cits francophones contemporains (1985&ndash;2020). Destin&eacute;e aux passionn&eacute;s de botanique et de litt&eacute;rature, aux professionnels et aux amateurs, elle vise &agrave; stimuler la curiosit&eacute; pour les plantes litt&eacute;raires, &agrave; approfondir les connaissances sur les plantes et leurs habitats, et &agrave; favoriser les &eacute;changes entre humanistes num&eacute;riques et humanistes environnementaux. Le pr&eacute;sent article propose un moment de r&eacute;flexion et de critique autour de ce projet, d'o&ugrave; &eacute;mergent plus de questions que de r&eacute;ponses. &Agrave; l'intersection des humanit&eacute;s num&eacute;riques, de l'&eacute;tude des plantes et de la cartographie litt&eacute;raire, notre article d&eacute;crit les changements de perspective que le d&eacute;veloppement de cette plateforme num&eacute;rique interactive a exig&eacute;s de nous et de nos relations avec les plantes.&nbsp;Plut&ocirc;t que de proposer un r&eacute;cit chronologique, nous pr&eacute;f&eacute;rons nous inspirer des emb&ucirc;ches rencontr&eacute;es en chemin et rendre ainsi justice aux tribulations intellectuelles qui nous ont rapproch&eacute;s du monde v&eacute;g&eacute;tal. D'ailleurs, c'est en grande partie gr&acirc;ce &agrave; une approche collective de litt&eacute;raires, de graphistes et d'un d&eacute;veloppeur de logiciels que nous avons pu d&eacute;couvrir les plantes et leurs mouvements sous tant d'angles diff&eacute;rents. Notre article &agrave; plusieurs auteurs vise &agrave; illustrer l'importance d'un tel travail interdisciplinaire lorsqu'il s'agit de comprendre les plantes et leurs mouvements.