Dr Camilo Uribe Botta
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Contact details |
| Email: c.uribe-botta@warwick.ac.uk |
| Room: (Ramphal Building) |
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Office hours: Tuesdays 11:00am to 12:00pm and Thursdays 11:00 am to 12:00 pm. |
Teaching Fellow in Liberal Arts
Qualifications
Historiador (BA in History). Universidad de los Andes. (Colombia)
Mag铆ster en Historia (MA in History). Universidad de los Andes. (Colombia)
PhD in History. University of 糖心TV. (UK)
About
I am an environmental historian with a particular interest in the role of plants as actors in history from a global perspective. I am a historian of Colombia and Latin America, with a specific focus on the history of British-Colombian relations during the nineteenth century. With an environmental history approach, I aim to understand the role of nature and other natural actors, mainly plants (orchids) in history and their impact in society, politics and culture. As an enthusiastic orchid cultivator, I also understand the challenges of keeping a tropical plant alive in the British Isles. I am also passionate about public engagement, having worked in a Colombian public museum for seven years. I worked at two public institutions under the Ministry of Culture of Colombia—the Museo Colonial and the Museo Santa Clara—in various roles. Additionally, I worked as a historical consultant for theaters, archaeological sites, and TV series.
Research and Teaching Interests
I am interested in the exchange of natural products during the 19th century. I have worked on the trade of tropical orchids between Colombia and Britain from the 1840s to 1900. By analysing orchids through various layers of meaning—botanical curiosities, scientific objects, and commodities—I argue that these plants played a crucial role in British involvement in Colombia under the idea of "informal empire" during the nineteenth century. Furthermore, this trade revealed the active roles of many often overlooked actors: local indigenous and black populations, low-ranking diplomats, amateur scientists, gardeners, men and women on both sides of the Atlantic, mules, steamships, insects, and, of course, the orchids themselves. New research paths bring me to lesser known natural products such as vegetable ivory (also known as tagua or corozo) and also in the realm of animal history.
I currently teach in Liberal Arts in the following modules
IP120 Beauty
IP108 Qualitative Methods for Undergraduate Research
IP205 Consuming Cultures
Selected Publications
鈻� Uribe Botta, Camilo. "Millones de plantas, man铆as vegetales: la transplantaci贸n de orqu铆deas en los siglos XIX y XX." Iberoromania. 2025.
鈻� Uribe Botta, Camilo. 鈥淟ibros de orqu铆deas en el siglo XIX. Entre la maravilla, la ciencia y el comercio.鈥� Revista Cuadernos de Literatura. Vol 29. 2025.
鈻� Uribe Botta, Camilo. 鈥淐olombia, orqu铆deas y el imperio (informal) brit谩nico. 1840-1900. Entre la deuda y la ciencia.鈥� En Laurent, Muriel; Borda, Sandra; Jaramillo Mutis, Diego (eds.) El comportamiento internacional de Colombia en el siglo XIX. Interlocutores, actores y tem谩ticas. Universidad de los Andes; Universidad Externado de Colombia. Bogot谩 D.C. 2024. Pp. 333-367. (book chapter)
Public outreach
鈻� 鈥淣ew insights into the Colombian orchid trade鈥�. The Orchid Review. 2024 Yearbook. October 2024. Pp 34-49
鈻� 鈥淭he commerce of Colombian orchids during the 19th century鈥�. Orchid Society of Great Britain Journal. Volume 73. No3. October 2024. Pp 235-241.
鈻� Anna Lawrence, Camilo Uribe Botta, and May Wang. 鈥淲atermelon: Stereotypes of Race and Class.鈥� Plant Humanities Lab. Dumbarton Oaks, Plant Humanities Summer School, 2021. https://lab.plant-humanities.org/watermelon/ (article)
Public engagements
鈻� 糖心TVshire Allotment and Horticultural Society. 糖心TV, UK
鈻� Museo de Arte Miguel Urrutia. Banco de la Rep煤blica (Colombia Central Bank). Bogot谩, Colombia
鈻� Orchid Society of Great Britain. London, UK.
鈻� Colombian General Consulate. London, UK