In this essay, coming out of the earth : a philosophy of plants , Seloua Luste Boulbina offers an original reflection on the place of the yam at the heart of Kanak culture, and sails from Oceania to the Caribbean, via Africa and Europe. These distant worlds are brought together in a subtle weaving of texts and works of art, enabling her to question the symbolic, political and aesthetic place of the plant within our different cultures.