By Alina Lianova

As I sat today for the first time in the ZMO meeting I was able to listen to Hilal Alkan Zeybek's research presentation on "The Company of Plants: Multispecies Care and Migrant Home-Making in Germany". I couldn't help but be drawn into the variety of stories of Turkish and Kurdish migrants described through her research, which to a certain extent resonated deeply with my own family experiences as migrants. When moving from Ukraine to Germany in 2022, I found myself struggling to adapt to the new environment, culture, and language. As a student, I had to fully continue my studies on a new level and language, while ultimately trying to make new friends. Consequently, I was trying to root myself into a new environment while dealing with the emotional cost of leaving my home country.

As Hilal shared her research, I found myself nodding along with the ideas of how plant experiences can be used as a metaphor for the migrant one. Elaborating that the intimate care relations we develop with our plants facilitate the home-building process for both humans and plants. This made me think of my home plants, particularly orchids that I got in Germany, which were my Grandma's favorite plants.Over time they had given me a sense of continuity and familiarity in my new home.

For myself I particularly noted the story of Esra, who moved from Turkey to Germany, bringing her beloved plants with her. Most of them adapted to the new environment, but one cactus struggled to maintain its natural appearance. Once “fluffy, big, bubbly, and green”, it now seemed to mirror Esra's challenges in rooting herself in a new country. Afterward, she got a job offer from one of the Gulf states and left the plant in Berlin. This might highlight how plants struggle and go through experiences (as suggested by Hilal's research), exemplified by Esra's cactus struggles to root in a new environment.

As we rounded off the session with discussions on power, politics, and the nature of care work, I found myself questioning my assumptions: Is moving plants from one country to another truly ‘care work’? Or is it something more complex, a way of carrying a piece of home with us as we journey into the unknown? This meeting reminded me that in the end, human beings are just as plants adaptable and able to root in unfamiliar places, and in a way taking care of a plant helps us to be closer to home while moving to another country.