A Monstrous Growth: The Experimentation and Afterlives of Caragana Arborescens

Abstract

This paper traces the history of Caragana arborescens, a shrub which has flourished for a hundred years in the polluted industrial landscape of Mill Creek Ravine, Edmonton. While now considered an invasive plant, caragana was once viewed as a vitally important species in the colonial settlement and transformation of the Canadian prairies. Arguing against the view of caragana as simply an extension of settler colonialism, or as an embodiment of industrial abandonment, I posit that caragana can be better thought of as a monstrous disturbance: a dense node of bodies and historical relations which emerged out of an experimental colonial project and thrives in the degraded landscapes that industrial capitalism has wrought. As a monstrous disturbance, caragana’s growth recollects, extends, and troubles the experimental colonial project that brought it to Mill Creek Ravine.