Kalle Hamm and Dzamil Kamanger: Garden of Invasive Alien Species

Invasive Alien Species as a Symbol for Immigrants

The Finnish Environment Institute Syke has identified the following four plants as invasive alien species: bigleaf lupine, Persian hogweed, Japanese rose, and Himalayan balsam. It is interesting to compare the classification arguments to the arguments used in the discourse on the disadvantages of immigration. The parallels are striking. According to Syke, invasive alien species:

• form dense impenetrable growths when escaping into nature
• engage in uncontrolled growth, taking over the living spaces of Finland’s native species and, in the worst cases, completely displace them
• hinder the recreational use of their growing areas
• diminish the value of real estate
• serve as a landscape nuisance in older cultural landscapes

In discussions critical of immigration on social media, immigrants are said to:

• choose to live near one another after relocating to the host country, and form their own residential areas
• take away subsidies, jobs, and women from the native population, and in extreme cases, displace the native population entirely
• ghettoise residential areas where the native population no longer dares to spend time
• reduce the value of residential areas and their properties
• exhibit distinct appearances, behaviours, and clothing associated with foreign religions and ethnic groups that do not fit the Finnish streetscape

In the natural sciences, anthropomorphisation was considered a swear word for a long time. Any credible researcher would be careful to not project human traits onto animals. In the 1980s, however, a breakthrough started to rupture as animals were discovered to have emotions and cultures. A similar shift is currently underway in the study of plant physiology, according to which plants can smell, see, hear, and produce sounds. It is interesting to note that while plants are anthropomorphised, immigrants tend to be objectified. Terms such as ‘migrant stock’ are used when discussing how many immigrants should be let into the country and what qualities they should possess, somewhat akin to ordering a pair of shoes.

Life forms previously considered as less valuable have traditionally been described as numb, uninformed, non-thinking, machine-like organisms. Only now has new research shown other species to be sentient beings with the ability to sense and even learn, thus reducing the dominant position of humans. Benedict Anderson said that communities are imagined, and are held together only by the belief in their existence: imagined communities do not flourish in the natural state.