The Plant’s Nationality

nationality [ nash-uh-nal-i-tee ]
noun
the status of belonging to a particular nation, whether by birth or naturalization

— Dictionary.com

But what is a nation?

I usually start with a single word. Its definition should begin the thinking process through the lenses of the plants. However, I wanted to see what would the nationality of the plants be, instead of the nation. Nationality refers more to an individual and the country to a lot. But to explore the former, we need to include another definition of the latter.

So here it goes:

nation [ ney-shuh n ]

noun

a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.

Now, I am very tempted to look for the definition of government, then politics and so on. But let’s not jump down that rabbit hole. It’s maybe a better idea to explore the other facets of this intriguing topic of a nation in other posts.

Going back to the topic, what sets the context is the word “territory”. It refers to a particular piece of land sounded by borders and features in Atlases and maps. Every human that is born within one specific border receives the nationality of that country. Two people could be born at 500 km distance and have the same nationality or at less than 1 km and have different nationalities.

Why is this important?

It’s firstly an administrative advantage to be part of a nation legally and formally and thus be part of the society with all its elements, like education, healthcare, work and so on. The borders have been multiple times changed during our brief history on the Planet. But the nation’s history will have a track record of a culture that shapes the person born within the borders.

The French are passionate, the Germans are hard-working, and the British are friendly are some of the stereotypes of the people based on where they were born. That is to keep it on the positive side and not share the multiple examples of negative stereotypes. While we acknowledge the diversity of people, most of us would think that one nationality has some unique characteristics that differentiate one from the other. This behaviour is also the root of nationalism which is more present in Europe and threatens the European Union common aspirations.

Nationality gives you an identity that comes with things you didn’t negotiate. Usually, the developed world has advantages in popular opinion compared with the people coming from less developed parts of the world. This phenomenon is based fundamentally on a more deficient education that snowballs in all the nation’s conditions influencing the character of a person. This identity is so strong that newcomers are perceived with somewhat fixed expectations based on their nationality. The newcomer will be expected to be late, lazy, uncommunicative or hard-working, always on time and a team player, based on the territory he was born in.

Naturalize — a way out?

And one should even look for a way out?

Some are very proud of their nationality, and this can nurture patriotic feelings or nationalist ones. The first attitude is more passive than the second one. Others are just neutral to their citizenship and carry one without granting too much attention.

For some expats, including me, the nationality weights on the shoulders as I am aware of the stereotypes. Therefore letting people know where I come from is immediately followed up by searching for signs or looks of disapproval. This attitude might be an irrational way of being, but it’s profoundly programmed in the social organisms that we are.

The nationality can change by applying under the laws of the state you wish to get the citizenship. It mostly happens when a person moves and builds up a life in a foreign country and want to be part of it, so the next generations will not be considered aliens themselves. The funny thing is that the origin is still going back to the borders within one was born, even when the nationality has changed. Meaning that a name, look, or accent can be enough for natives to question the origins. And it is not always done as a detective resolving a crime mystery; sometimes it’s just pure curiosity.

If a person changes the nationality or adds one, it means that it is now part of another nation. So one can jump from lazy stereotype to hard-working one by a mere file with documents.

Nationality is 2D

Borders delimit nations. Even if passing the frontier is seemingly in the Schengen area, looking at a map, one can see the lines demarcating the countries. Therefore, these lines are the only things that determine nationality. The space in which one is born represents the administrative territory of a nation, and thus that newborn would have its citizenship. The lines are in a two-dimensional plane. It doesn’t matter if there are different altitudes or even types of topography, landscapes or any other thing. The lines are enough to put you into the category with all its stereotypical characteristics.

If the maps get redrawn and borders are changed and agreed globally, the nationality of one’s person could change. But this is very rare to almost not possible any more with the wars incidence decreasing and conflicts over territories becoming absurd in an increasingly open world.

The funny thing is that these lines we call borders do not exist. In the way that there is no natural phenomenon that made these spaces physically separated, so people start calling it a country. he lines are like money; artificial human constructs agreed by everybody to manage the societies within a country. Of course, one can see some separation when crossing to another country, such as border controls or signs showing that another country starts from that point. But this is done by humans and history showed that they were more than dynamic and susceptible to changes.

The full story can be read here: https://www.phytosopher.com/blog/plants-nationality

Phytosophy is an anthology of thought experiments that explore the intrinsic human condition through the lenses of the plants.
Are plants courageous, lazy, or humble? Do they procrastinate, cheat or sacrifice? What lessons can we learn from the nature in order to make our lives more meaningful?