I would have liked to read just about Sweetgrass and the customs surrounding it, to read just about her journey as a Native American scientist and professor, or to read just about her experiences as a mother. Follow us onLinkedIn,Twitter, orInstagram. I'm Melanie - the founder and content creator of Inspired Epicurean. Dr. Kimmerer has taught courses in botany, ecology, ethnobotany, indigenous environmental issues as well as a seminar in application of traditional ecological knowledge to conservation. This study guide contains the following sections: This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion on Many of the pants have since become invasive species, choking or otherwise endangering native species to sustain their own pace of exponential growth. I wish that I could stand like a shaggy cedar with rain seeping into my bark, that water could dissolve the barrier between us. And we think of it as simply rain, as if it were one thing, as if we understood it. In this chapter, Kimmerer recounts the journey of Nanabozho as he walks across the earth for the first time. In part to share a potential source of meaning, Kimmerer, who is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a professor at the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science . By clicking subscribe, I agree to receive the One Water blog newsletter and acknowledge the Autodesk Privacy Statement. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Milkweed Editions, 2013. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two . What have you worked hard for, like tapping maples? What problems does Kimmerer identify and what solutions does she propose in Braiding Sweetgrass? Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Do any specific plants bring you comfort and connection? Planting Sweetgrass includes the chapters Skywoman Falling, The Council of Pecans, The Gift of Strawberries, An Offering, Asters and Goldenrod, and Learning the Grammar of Animacy. Kimmerer introduces the concepts of reciprocity, gratitude, and gift-giving as elements of a healthy relationship with ones environment which she witnessed from her indigenous family and culture growing up. Her book draws not only on the inherited wisdom of Native Americans, but also on the knowledge Western science has accumulated about plants. Kimmerer also brings up how untouched land is now polluted and forgotten, how endangered species need to be protected, how we can take part in caring for nature, especially during the climate crisis that we are currently experiencing and have caused due to our carelessness and lack of concern for other species. Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerers "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants,". Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. This list is simply a starting point, an acknowledgement and gesture of gratitude for the many women in my life that have helped Create, Nurture, Protect, and Lead in ways that have taught me what it means to be a good relative. Throughout his decades-long journey to restore the land to its former glory, Dolp came to realize the parallel importance of restoring his personal relationship to land. How do you feel community strength relates to our treatment of the environment? It establishes the fact that humans take much from the earth, which gives in a way similar to that of a mother: unconditionally, nearly endlessly. She compares this healthy relationship to the scientific relationship she experienced as a young scholar, wherein she struggled to reconcile spirituality, biology, and aesthetics into one coherent way of thinking. By paying attention we acknowledge that we have something to learn from intelligences other than our own. . She is a gifted speaker and teacher. It is a book that explores the connection between living things and human efforts to cultivate a more sustainable world through the lens of indigenous traditions. Already a member? Did you find this chapter poetic? The Andrews Forest Programprovides science on multiple themes and provides a broader foundation for regional studies. If there is one book you would want the President to read this year, what would it be? Why or why not? It offered them a rich earthly existence and their culture mirrored this generosity by giving their goods away in the potlatch ceremony, imitating nature in their way of life. Kimmerer criticizes those who gatekeep science from the majority of people through the use of technical language, itself a further form of exclusion through the scientific assumption that humans are disconnected from and above other living things. What can you do to promote restoration over despair? "Robin Wall Kimmerer is writer of rare grace. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. White Hawk earned a MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2011) and BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico (2008). As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. ", University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Buffs One Read 2022-2023: Braiding Sweetgrass, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdome Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants. Kimmerer also discusses her own journey to Kanatsiohareke, where she offered her own services at attempting to repopulate the area with native sweetgrass. How Human People Are Only One Manifestation of Intelligence In theUniverse. Witness to the rain Download PDF Year: 2011 Publications Type: Book Section Publication Number: 4674 Citation: Kimmerer, Robin W. 2011. I share delicious vegan recipes (with a few flexitarian recipes from my pre-vegan days). I think it has affected me more than anything else I've ever read. Pull up a seat, friends. If so, how can we apply what we learn to create a reciprocity with the living world? By Robin Kimmerer ; 1,201 total words . What are ways we can improve the relationship? Next the gods make people out of pure sunlight, who are beautiful and powerful, but they too lack gratitude and think themselves equal to the gods, so the gods destroy them as well. Robin Kimmerers relation to nature delighted and amazed me, and at the same time plunged me into envy and near despair. When a young Amish boy is sole witness to a murder while visiting Philadelphia with his mother, police detective John Book tries to protect the boy until an attempt on Book's life forces him into hiding in Amish country. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. Struggling with distance learning? Did you consider this a melancholy chapter? Her book draws not only on the inherited wisdom of Native Americans, but also on the knowledge Western science has accumulated about plants. Teachers and parents! The second date is today's Braiding Sweetgrass explores the theme of cooperation, considering ways in which different entities can thrive by working in harmony and thereby forming a sense of mutual belonging. Can you identify any ceremonies in which you participated, that were about the land, rather than family and culture? Kimmerer imagines a kind of science in which people saw plants as teachers rather than as objects to be experimented on. If not, what obstacles do you face in feeling part of your land? Book Synopsis. If tannin rich alder water increases the size of the drops, might not water seeping through a long curtain of moss also pick up tannins, making the big strong drops I thought I was seeing? What do you consider the power of ceremony? Kimmerer hopes that with the return of salmon to Cascade Head, some of the sacred ceremonies of gratitude and reciprocity that once greeted them might return as well. Hundreds of thousands of readers have turned to Kimmerer's words over the decades since the book's first publication, finding these tender, poetic, and respectful words, rooted in soil and tradition, intended to teach and celebrate. What were your thoughts surrounding the Original Instructions?. In Oregon, on the West Coast of the United States, the hard shiny leaves of salal and Oregon grape make a gentle hiss of "ratatatat" (293). Tending Sweetgrass includes the chapters Maple Sugar Moon, Witch Hazel, A Mothers Work, The Consolation of Water Lilies, and Allegiance to Gratitude. This section more closely explores the bounty of the earth and what it gives to human beings. "Burning Sweetgrass" is the final section of this book. To Be In ReceptiveSilence (InnerCharkha), RestorativeJustice & NonviolentCommunication, Superando la Monocultura Interna y Externa / Overcoming Inner & OuterMonoculture, En la Oscuridad con Asombro/ In Darkness with Wonder. Do you feel a deeper connection to your local plants now? (LogOut/ Maybe there is no such thing as time; there are only moments, each with its own story. The poetry of nature does not escape this writer and she becomes a poet herself at times, as in the following paragraph from this chapter with which I will conclude. I refrain from including specific quotes in case a reader does take a sneak peak before finishing the book, but I do feel your best journey is one taken page-by-page. Did this chapter change your view on the inner workings of forests? Her book of personal observations about nature and our relationship to it,Braiding Sweetgrass, Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants,has been on theNYTimes bestseller list as a paperback for an astounding 130 weeks. date the date you are citing the material. What did you think of the juxtaposition between light and dark? They all join together to destroy the wood people. The address, she writes, is "a river of words as old as the people themselves, known more . It teaches the reader so many things about plants and nature in general. Does embracing nature/the natural world mean you have a mothers responsibility to create a home? What did you think of Robins use of movement as metaphor and time? The author does an excellent job at narration. Its about pursuing the wants and needs of humans, with less concern for the more-than-human world. Her students conducted a study showing that in areas where sweetgrass was harvested wisely (never take more than half) it returned the following year thicker and stronger. Burning Sweetgrass is the final section of this book. Enjoy! Do you consider sustainability a diminished standard of living? When Kimmerer moves herself and her daughters to upstate New York, one of the responsibilities that she decides to take is to provide her daughters with a swimmable pond. After reading the book do you feel compelled to take any action or a desire to impact any change? She has participated in residencies in Australia and Russia and Germany. We need to restore honor to the way we live, so that when we walk through the world we dont have to avert our eyes with shame, so that we can hold our heads up high and receive the respectful acknowledgment of the rest of the earths beings.. Give your attention to the plants and natural elements around you. I can see my face reflected in a dangling drop. They provide us with another model of how . As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. It was heartbreaking to realize my nearly total disconnection from the earth, and painful to see the world again, slowly and in pieces. And we think of it as simply rain, as if it were one thing, as if we understood it. The solution? Do you consider them inanimate objects? What literary devices are used in Braiding Sweetgrass? I suppose thats the way we are as humans, thinking too much and listening too little. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. In the Indigenous worldview, however, humans are seen as the younger brothers of Creation who must learn from those who were here before us: the plants and animals, who have their own kinds of intelligence and knowledge. (including. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants.She has BS in Botany from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry as well as a MS and PhD from the University of Wisconsin. (USA), 2013. How does Kimmerer use plants to illustrate her ideas in Braiding Sweetgrass? Against the background hiss of rain, she distinguishes the sounds drops make when they fall on different surfaces, a large leaf, a rock, a small pool of water, or moss. In the Bible Eve is punished for eating forbidden fruit and God curses her to live as Adam's subordinate according to an article on The Collector. The author has a flowery, repetitive, overly polished writing style that simply did not appeal to me. I wish Robin Wall Kimmerer had written three short books instead of one long book. On his forty acres, where once cedars, hemlocks, and firs held sway in a multilayered sculpture of vertical complexity from the lowest moss on the forest floor to the wisps of lichen hanging high in the treetops, now there were only brambles, vine maples, and alders. But they're gifts, too. How can we refrain from interfering with the sacred purpose of another being? Many of her arguments rely on this concept of honour, which is what she thinks weve abandoned in our publicpolicies. Inside looking out, I could not bear the loneliness of being dry in a wet world. She writes about the natural world from a place of such abundant passion that one can never quite see the world the same way after having seen it through Kimmerer's eyes. She is the co-founder and past president of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge section of the Ecological Society of America. Did you recognize yourself or your experiences in it? So I stretch out, close my eyes, and listen to the rain. These are not 'instructions' like commandments, though, or rules; rather they are like a compass: they provide an orientation but not a map. Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System, Karl Marx's Ecosocialism: Capital, Nature, and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy, The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions, The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World, Debt - Updated and Expanded: The First 5,000 Years, Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition, Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World, Another Now: Dispatches from an Alternative Present, Talking to My Daughter About the Economy: or, How Capitalism Works - and How It Fails, The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Social Reproduction Theory: Remapping Class, Recentring Oppression, Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle. Living out of balance with the natural world can have grave ecological consequences, as evidenced by the current climate change crisis. These people are beautiful, strong, and clever, and they soon populate the earth with their children. Do offering ceremonies or rituals exist in your life? While the discursive style of, As we struggle to imagine a future not on fire, we are gifted here with an indigenous culture of. But I'm grateful for this book and I recommend it to every single person! Is it possible that plants have domesticated us? The questionssampled here focus on. Robin Wall Kimmerer begins her book Gathering Moss with a journey in the Amazon rainforest, during which Indigenous guides helped her see an iguana on the tree branch, a toucan in the leaves. In this way, the chapter reflects that while Western immigrants may never become fully indigenous to Turtle Island, following in the footsteps of Nanabozho and plantain may help modern Americans begin their journey to indigeneity. tis is how they learned to survive, when they had little. The second is the date of If so, how? Do you feel a connection to the Earth as reciprocal as the relationships outlined in this chapter? Kimmerer reaches a place where shes in tune with nature. Author: Kimmerer, Robin Wall Additional Titles: . In her talk, she references another scientist and naturalist weve covered before,Aldo Leopold. She's completely comfortable moving between the two and their co-existence within her mind gives her a unique understanding of her experience. "T his is a time to take a lesson from mosses," says Robin Wall Kimmerer, celebrated writer and botanist. Witness to the Rain In this chapter, Kimmerer considers the nature of raindrops and the flaws surrounding our human conception of time. In this chapter, Kimmerer discusses the legacy of Indian boarding schools, such as Carlisle, and some of the measures that are being taken to reverse the damage caused by forcible colonial assimilation. Which were the most and least effective chapters, in your opinion? Kimmerer lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. In the story, the first divine beings, or gods, create plants and animals to fill the emptiness. What's a summary of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Drew Lanhamrender possibilities for becoming better kin and invite us into the ways . A wonderfully written nonfiction exploring indigenous culture and diaspora, appreciating nature, and what we can do to help protect and honor the land we live upon. She is Potawatomi and combines her heritage with her scientific and environmental passions. We've designed some prompts to help students, faculty, and all of the CU community to engage with the 2021 Buffs OneRead. "Witness to the Rain" is the final chapter of the "Braiding Sweetgrass" section of RWK's beautiful book. She then relates the Mayan creation story. Is it possible to stay quiet long enough to hear/learn? Witness to the Rain Robin Wall Kimmerer | Last.fm Search Live Music Charts Log In Sign Up Robin Wall Kimmerer Witness to the Rain Love this track More actions Listeners 9 Scrobbles 11 Join others and track this song Scrobble, find and rediscover music with a Last.fm account Sign Up to Last.fm Lyrics Add lyrics on Musixmatch Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Witness to the Rain 293-300 BURNING SWEETGRASS Windigo Footprints 303-309 . As a social scientist myself, I found her nuanced ideas about the relationship between western science and indigenous worldviews compelling. These questions may be posed to an entire class, to small groups, to online communities, or as personal reflective prompts. Where will the raindrops land? Robin Wall Kimmerer . Kimmerer describes how the people of the Onondaga Nation begin every gathering with what is often called the "Thanksgiving Address.". I choose joy. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. If you're interested in even more Braiding Sweetgrass book club questions, I highly recommend these discussion questions (best reviewed after reading the book) from Longwood Gardens. In areas where it was ignored, it came back reduced in quantity, thus bearing out the Native American saying: Take care of the land and the land will take care of you.. She isnt going for a walk or gathering kindling or looking for herbs; shes just paying attention. The reflecting surface of the pool is textured with their signatures, each one different in pace and resonance. Different animals and how the indigenous people learned from watching them and plants, the trees. Braiding Sweetgrass. In this chapter, Kimmerer recounts a field trip she took with a group of students while she was teaching in the Bible Belt. She highlights that at the beginning of his journey, Nanabozho was an immigrant, arriving at an earth already fully populated with plants and animals, but by the end of his journey, Nanabozho has found a sense of belonging on Turtle Island. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Kimmerer, Robin Wall. The fish-eye lens gives me a giant forehead and tiny ears. 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. in the sand, but because joy. The Earth is providing many valuable gifts for us, including fresh air, water, lands and many more natural resources to keep us alive. It gives us knowing, but not caring. Want more Water Words of Wisdom? How do we compensate the plants for what weve received? How can we have a relationship if we lack thorough understanding, an ability to listen, and ideas to give back to the natural world? What are your thoughts on the assertion of mutual taming between plants and humans? Its not as big as a maple drop, not big enough to splash, but its popp ripples the surface and sends out concentric rings. They all lacked gratitude, which is indeed our unique gift as human beings, but increasingly Kimmerer says that she has come to think of language as our gift and responsibility as well. Through this symbiotic relationship, the lichen is able to survive in harsh conditions. Did the Depression-era reference hit home with you? Director Peter Weir Writers William Kelley (story by) Pamela Wallace (story by) Earl W. Wallace (story by) Stars Harrison Ford Your email address will not be published. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.". Braiding Sweetgrass addresses a tapestry of relationships that represent a larger, more significant relationship between humans and the environment we call home. Dr. Kimmerer does a fantastic job of shining a spotlight on the intersectionality of traditionally divergent spheres; most specifically, Western scientific methods and Indigenous teachings. In "Braiding Sweetgrass," she weaves Indigenous wisdom with her scientific training. Ask some questions & start a conversation about the Buffs OneRead. Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of "Braiding Sweetgrass" Sweet Briar College is thrilled to welcome Robin Wall Kimmerer on March 23, 2022, for a special in-person (and livestream) presentation on her book "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.". As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools . Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Traditional knowledge represents the outcome of long experimentation . Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. 1) Bring some homage to rainit can be a memory of your most memorable experience ever walking in the rain, listening to rainfall, staying inside by a fire while it rained, etc.or a poem or piece of prose that captures something you feel about rainor a haiku you write tomorrow morning over your coffeeor best of all, a potent rain dance! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); To live in radical joyous shared servanthood to unify the Earth Family. "I close my eyes and listen to the voices of the rain. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Braiding Sweetgrass. She invites us to seek a common language in plants and suggests that there is wisdom and poetry that all plants can teach us. The Skywoman story, shared by the original people's throughout the Greak Lakes, is a constant star in the constellation of teachings we call the Original Instructions. What ceremonies are important to you, and serve as an opportunity to channel attention into intention? Each raindrop will fall individually, its size and. Witness to the Rain. know its power in many formswaterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans, snow and ice. 1976) is a visual artist and independent curator based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Everything in the forest seems to blend into everything else, mist, rain, air, stream, branches. I think that moss knows rain better than we do, and so do maples. Robin Kimmerer, Potawatomi Indigenous ecologist, author, and professor, asks this question as she ponders the fleeting existence of our sister speciesspecies such as the passenger pigeon, who became extinct a century ago. Her use of vibrant metaphor captures emotion in such a way that each chapter leaves us feeling ready to roll up our sleeves and reintroduce ourselves to the backyard, apartment garden, or whatever bit of greenspace you have in your area. (Siangu Lakota, b. What fire within you has proven to be both good and bad? Cold, and wishing she had a cup of tea, Kimmerer decides not to go home but instead finds a dry place under a tree thats fallen across a stream. They feel like kindred spirits. I would catch myself arguing with her for idealizing her world view, for ignoring the darker realities of life, and for preaching at me, although I agree with every single thing she advocates. Do you believe in land as a teacher? over despair. Through this anecdote, Kimmerer reminds us that it is nature itself who is the true teacher. When people are in the presence of nature, often no other lesson is needed to move them to awe. Please enter your email address to subscribe to this blog if you would like to receive notifications of new posts by email. Your email address will not be published. please join the Buffs OneRead community course: In Witness to the Rain, Kimmerer gives uninterrupted attention to the natural world around her. How has this book changed your view of the natural world and relationships? In this chapter Kimmerer again looks toward a better future, but a large part of that is learning from the past, in this case mythology from the Mayan people of Central America. Visualize an element of the natural world and write a letter of appreciation and observation. The story focuses on the central role of the cattail plant, which can fulfill a variety of human needs, as the students discover. Vlog where I reflected daily on one or two chapters: Pros: This non-fiction discusses serious issues regarding the ecology that need to be addressed. Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Preface and Planting Sweetgrass Summary and Analysis. How do we characterize wealth and abundance? As an American, I don't think my countrypeople appreciate or understand enough about native culture, as a general rule and so I was very grateful for this sort of overview of modern day native life, as well as beautiful stories about the past. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. However, there is one plant, the broadleaf plantain, sometimes known as the White Mans Footstep, that has assimilated and become somewhat indigenous to place, working with the native plants in symbiosis in order to propagate. This is an important and a beautiful book. My mother is a veteran. How did this change or reinforce your understanding of gifts and gift-giving? Change). . Recall a meaningful gift that youve received at any point in your life.

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