EP09 Denisha Anand | Restorative Justice & Indigenous Plant Intimacies

Earth Cast

In this episode Olivia Taylor speaks to Denisha Anand about the layered historic injustices of the Cape Town fires, intersectional environmentalism, indigenous plant practices, holistic approaches to care, ancestry and, the criticism of hardcore sciences as being too linear. Denisha is an intersectional environmentalist working in marginalized biodiversity spaces characterised by racialised neglect. She holds a BSc degree in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, a BSc Hons in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology and, is currently completing a Masters degree in multispecies ethnography and plant knowledge systems at the University of the Western Cape, research site Kamiesberg, Northern Cape. Denisha is also the environmental/restoration project manager and oversees the management of a 109ha wetland system in Cape Town called Princess Vlei. She is a progressive environmental educator and advocate for restoration and rehabilitation of neglected biodiversity areas associated with BIPOC and, in particular, illegal evictions and abuse against displaced people. To follow more of Denisha’s work, you can find her at http://www.princessvlei.org/ or @vegetal_involutioist/@theplanthropologist.