Alien Invaders, Plant Thugs, and the Southern Curse: Framing Kudzu as Environmental Other through Discourses of Fear

Employing a post-structural political ecology approach, we examine the extent to which exotic species are represented as an environmental ‘other’ that is morally inferior as well as threatening. Few geographers have focused attention on the discourses and metaphors used to depict nonnative species as ‘bad’ and in need of eradication. We fill this void somewhat by examining the patterns of public representation that surrounded the creation of a 2001 anti-kudzu law in Missouri, interrogating the fear-laden discourses used to construct kudzu as negative. Three of the most prominent discourses framed the vine, in metaphoric terms, as an alien invader, plant thug, and a curse from the South, in effect othering the region along with the vine. By framing kudzu in this way, people gave the vine agency, thus justifying the need for legislation and control. These discourses of fear often revealed more about the perceived need for more security and order in society than specific understandings of the potential biological hazard posed by kudzu.