Loving lindens, logging spruces : arborism as an apparatus of arboreal inequality

english

2026

volume 63, issue 2

arborism   ecological governmentality   forest governance   multispecies justice   posthumanism

Univerza v Ljubljani, Fakulteta za družbene vede
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The article introduces arborism as a conceptual framework for examining how economic, political and cultural practices create hierarchies among species of trees within forest systems. Like with speciesism in critical animal studies, arborism is theorised as a Foucauldian apparatus of power/knowledge that legitimises human-imposed arboreal hierarchies by making certain tree species/individual trees sacred, healing or national icons while others are left invisible or expendable. Drawing on the case of Slovenia’s venerated linden and heavily logged spruce, the article shows how arborism operates through economic logic, nationalist symbolism, heritage protection, and forestry policies. Comparative examples from several other countries reveal the way such hierarchies are reproduced in diverse ecological and cultural contexts. The concept of affective arborism is used to describe the emotional economies that attach value to trees via mourning, memory and awe. Integrating Indigenous ontologies and posthuman relational ethics, the author argues for a post-arborism ethics grounded in reciprocity and multispecies justice rather than charisma or utility.

22.07.2026