On 28 Saturday 2019, at 9am in the morning, together with other researchers we took the bus to Dundee Science Center to participate in the Explorathon 2019. During the bus trip we already got the feeling that we had a different angle than the other participants.
Arrived safely at the center we prepared our table in the astronomy room, that was styled like the outer space. The outer space…the feeling of being alone in the wide, wide universe came upon us. We were not wrong. Merplantilism was the only contribution from the Arts and Humanity department that day. The other researchers were galaxies away. Literally, because the table next to us introduced interested visitors to the beauty of different galaxies and spheres. They came from the Science departments.
However, Dundee is also the home of the Discovery ship on which the explorers Scott and Shackleton set off for their journey to the Antarctic. With their bravery in mind, we felt encouraged enough to set sail to let our young visitors discover the wide seas of Arts and Humanities. Interested children soon explored our original trading routes, displayed on the maps and learned about dangers on sea (piracy and scurvy) and various stories about different specimen like, Elisabeth I’s antipathy of potato due to an upset stomach after eating the leaves, the value of pineapples for interior decoration, or the story of how botanists figured out that tea does not grow in Scotland.
A lot of visitors had already experience with setting up their own glasshouses, planting potatoes or just visiting the Botanical Gardens in Dundee and St Andrews. Our different specimen elicited the most interesting stories from our visitors. From a child who quoted her father that without coffee “one surely would die” to the lady, whose family could look back to a successful career as privateers in their timeline. We even got a surprise visit from Sunny, a female Sungaya stick insect who was inspecting our board and our botanists (certainly looking for the easiest to fight against)
All in all, it was a very successful day and we were constantly busy interacting with people who engaged in the History of Maritime Trade and Botany. We would like to thank the Public Engagement with Research team of the University of St Andrews, Mhairi, Callum, and Francesca, and the Dundee Science Center for giving us this wonderful opportunity to let people engage with history and the unlimited access to their coffee supply, that Christin used frequently….to survive….just in case.
Mer-plant-ilism 