Jeremiah Yuda Umam

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Book by Robin Wall Kimmerer

DETAILS

Publisher : Milkweed Editions; First Paperback edition (August 11, 2015) Language : English Paperback : 408 pages ISBN-10 : 1571313567 ISBN-13 : 978-1571313560 Item Weight : 3.53 ounces Dimensions : 5.4 x 1 x 8.4 inches Best Sellers Rank: #326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #1 in Nature Writing & Essays #1 in Botany (Books) #1 in Ecology (Books) , A New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Bestseller Named a "Best Essay Collection of the Decade" by Literary Hub As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass , Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert). Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings―asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass―offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return. Read more

REVIEW

This book goes beyond the need to stop climate change from heaping disasters on our planet and its inhabitants. It talks about the peaceful deep satisfaction of humans living in symbiosis with the land and its plants and animals and how the maker seems to have designed nature so that its components complement and serve each other. The author, an indigenous member of the Potawatome group of native Americans, has a PhD in botany, an area she chose because of her love for plants. She tries to balance her knowledge of Science with the legends of the Potawatome. These legends support a view of life that consists of gratitude for the land and its fruits as well as respect for how and how much they are used. They are almost as romantic as they are fanciful. The Potawatome believe that all parts of nature are close to sentient beings. In fact, plants gift their fruits to humans. Even fish are seen to gift their lives for food to humans. At first, I thought the author provided these native beliefs in order to explain how the world view of the Potawatome’s relationship with nature came about. As I read, it seemed that the author holds these ideas as highly valuable if not Potawatome gospel truth. She actually continues the practice as asking plants if she may have some. She doesn’t say how they answer, but it always appears to be “yes.” (From my limited experience with fishing, the desperate flopping of captured fish to escape seems to indicate no desire to gift their lives to anyone.) The author makes her points over and over again with different examples. My favorites were her recounting trips with her students to experience plants and earth in their natural habitats, where she correctly observes that the plants have taught the students what they’re about. Still, less repetition and fewer details about such things as making baskets from tree bark would have been appreciated. In fact, I fear those who most need to heed her message will be turned off by her adherence to Potawatome legends and prescriptions unrelated to preserving nature. She skims over use of seal-a-meal bags to gift hand grown rice and the ingredients in pancakes that are likely store bought. It was almost refreshing, however, that she put her daughters’ desire for a swimmable pool over the lives of tadpoles. I was disappointed that she quickly dismissed one effort at sustainability with no reason. Since, one of the Potawatome rules is that no one should ever gather more than half of the produce in an area in order that the site continues to provide, I expected more sympathy with the general idea. I also regret that there was not a word about evolution, and its role in the compatibility she sees between humans and nature before the world became industrialized. In fact, her book inspired me to conjecture that evolutions of varying life forms could be quite coordinated. We already know that species evolve when the climate changes so the same thing likely happens among different plant and animal species. I couldn’t believe the work she did in providing for her family via the Potawatome way while teaching classes and raising her children. When did she find time to write this fascinating book?

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