This essay examines the relationship between slavery and plant knowledge for cultivational activities and medicinal purposes on Isle de France (Mauritius) in the second half of the eighteenth century. It builds on recent scholarship to argue for the significance of slaves in the acquisition of plant material and related knowledge in pharmaceutical, acclimatization, and private gardens on the French colonial island. I highlight the degree to which French colonial officials relied on slaves’ ethnobotanical knowledge but neglected to include such information in their published works. Rather than seeking to explore the status of such knowledge within European frameworks of natural history as an endpoint of knowledge production, this essay calls upon us to think about the plant knowledge that slaves possessed for its practical implementations in the local island context. Both female and male slaves’ plant-based knowledge enriched – even initiated – practices of cultivation and preparation techniques of plants for nourishment and medicinal uses. Here, cultivational knowledge and skills determined a slave’s hierarchical rank. As the case of the slave gardener Rama and his family reveals, plant knowledge sometimes offered slaves opportunities for social mobility and, even though on extremely rare occasions, enabled them to become legally free.

中文翻译：

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从民族植物学到解放：十八世纪法兰西岛上的奴隶、植物知识和花园

本文考察了 18 世纪下半叶法兰西岛（毛里求斯）的奴隶制与用于种植活动和药用目的的植物知识之间的关系。它建立在最近的学术研究的基础上，论证了奴隶在法国殖民岛上​​获得植物材料和制药、驯化和私人花园相关知识的重要性。我强调了法国殖民官员在多大程度上依赖奴隶的民族植物学知识，但却忽略了在他们出版的作品中包含这些信息的程度。与其寻求在欧洲自然历史框架内探索此类知识作为知识生产终点的地位，本文呼吁我们思考奴隶拥有的植物知识，以便在当地岛屿环境中进行实际实施。女性和男性奴隶的植物知识丰富了——甚至开创了——用于营养和药用植物的栽培和制备技术的实践。在这里，修养的知识和技能决定了奴隶的等级。正如奴隶园丁拉玛及其家人的案例所揭示的那样，植物知识有时为奴隶提供了社会流动的机会，尽管在极少数情况下，使他们能够获得合法的自由。修养的知识和技能决定了奴隶的等级。正如奴隶园丁拉玛及其家人的案例所揭示的那样，植物知识有时为奴隶提供了社会流动的机会，尽管在极少数情况下，使他们能够获得合法的自由。修养的知识和技能决定了奴隶的等级。正如奴隶园丁拉玛及其家人的案例所揭示的那样，植物知识有时为奴隶提供了社会流动的机会，尽管在极少数情况下，使他们能够获得合法的自由。