The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Clearly I am in the minority here, as this book has some crazy high ratings overall. If you only read one science or nature book this year, this comes with my highest recommendations. Abstract. Today were celebrating Robin Wall Kimmerer, Professor of Environmental Science and Forestry at State University of New York College and citizen of the Potawatomi Nation. Dr. Kimmerer weaves together one of the most rich resources to date in Braiding Sweetgrass, and leaves us with a sense of hope rather than paralyzing fear. As she says: We are all bound by a covenant of reciprocity: plant breath for animal breath, winter and summer, predator and prey, grass and fire, night and day, living and dying. "An inspired weaving of indigenous knowledge, plant science, and personal narrative from a distinguished professor of science and a Native American whose previous book, Gathering Moss, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing. Witness (1985) - IMDb All rights reserved. This story is usually read as a history, but Kimmerer reminds the reader that in many Indigenous cultures time is not linear but rather circular. moments of wonder and joy. I don't know what else to say. eNotes Editorial. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Kinship With The More Than Human World - To The Best Of Our Knowledge Looking at mosses close up is, she insists, a comforting, mindful thing: "They're the most overlooked plants on the planet. The artists' books made in a concertina format, bear witness to the events observed, as visual scales. What have you worked hard for, like tapping maples? For example, Kimmerer calls a spruce tree strong arms covered in moss (p.208) and describes vine maples as a moss-draped dome (296). It takes time for fine rain to traverse the scabrous rough surface of an alder leaf. These writing or creative expression promptsmight be used for formal assignments or informal exercises. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge - Amazon Christelle Enault is an artist and illustrator based in Paris. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. ", University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Buffs One Read 2022-2023: Braiding Sweetgrass, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdome Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants. 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.. Kimmerer occupies two radically different thought worlds. Kimmerer also discusses her own journey to Kanatsiohareke, where she offered her own services at attempting to repopulate the area with native sweetgrass. Next they make humans out of wood. date the date you are citing the material. Learn how your comment data is processed. Ed. please join the Buffs OneRead community course: In Witness to the Rain, Kimmerer gives uninterrupted attention to the natural world around her. Robin Wall Kimmerer. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom - JSTOR Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Without the knowledge of the guide, she'd have walked by these wonders and missed them completely. I must admit I had my reservations about this book before reading it. We are discussing it here: Audiobook..narrated by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Powerful book with lots of indigenous wisdom related to science, gratitude, and how we relate to the land. What did you think of the concept of the journey of plants relating to the journey of people? . Overall Summary. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Preface and Planting Sweetgrass Summary and Analysis. Where will the raindrops land? Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original One essay especially, "Allegiance to Gratitude," prompted me to rethink our Christian practices of thanks. Traditional knowledge represents the outcome of long experimentation . Wall Kimmerer draws on her own life experiences and her half North American Indian and half white settler ancestry. I think that moss knows rain better than we do, and so do maples. The last date is today's The chapters reinforce the importance of reciprocity and gratitude in defeating the greed that drives human expansion at the expense of the earths health and plenitude. Robin Kimmerers relation to nature delighted and amazed me, and at the same time plunged me into envy and near despair. The Role of Indigenous Burning in Land Management - OUP Academic Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. The belly Button of the World -- Old-Growth Children -- Witness to the Rain -- Burning Sweetgrass -- Windigo Footprints -- The Sacred and the Superfund -- People of Corn, People of . It also greatly touches upon how humans and nature impact one another and how we should appreciate the journey that food and nature have taken to get to our tables and backyards. I suppose thats the way we are as humans, thinking too much and listening too little. October 6, 2021 / janfalls. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press: 187-195. They make the first humans out of mud, but they are ugly and shapeless and soon melt away in the rain. I felt euphoric inhaling the intense fragrance, and truly understood why the author would name a book after this plant. Its based on common sense, on things we may have known at one time about living in concert with our surroundings, but that modern life and its irresistible conveniences have clouded. Yet, this list of qualities could go on and on and each person carries multiple roles. Braiding Sweetgrass a book by Robin Wall Kimmerer We've designed some prompts to help students, faculty, and all of the CU community to engage with the 2021 Buffs OneRead. This was a wonderful, wonderful book. How does the story of Skywoman compare to the other stories of Creation? How Braiding Sweetgrass became a surprise -- and enduring -- bestseller Order our Braiding Sweetgrass Study Guide. Her work is in the collections of the Denver Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Tweed Museum of Art, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Akta Lakota Museum among other public and private collections. Rather, we each bear a responsibility to gain understanding of the land in which we live and how its beauty is much greater than a blooming tree or manicured lawn. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the 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. What can we offer the environment that supplies us with so much? Kimmerer who recently won a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant used as an example one successful project at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where she directs the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. RECIPROCITY. When we take from the land, she wants us to insist on an honourable harvest, whether were taking a single vegetable for sustenance or extracting minerals from the land. What problems does Kimmerer identify and what solutions does she propose in Braiding Sweetgrass? Just read it. Teachers and parents! I read this book in a book club, and one of the others brought some braided Sweetgrass to our meeting. 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. What are your thoughts regarding the democracy of species concept? Five stars for the author's honest telling of her growth as a learner and a professor, and the impressions she must have made on college students unaccustomed to observing or interacting with nature. If so, what makes you feel a deeper connection with the land and how did you arrive at that feeling? At root, Kimmerer is seeking to follow an ancient model for new pathways to sustainability. Witness to the rain - LTER LitCharts Teacher Editions. 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. She thinks its all about restoration: We need acts of restoration, not only for polluted waters and degraded lands, but also for our relationship to the world. 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. Can anyone relate to the fleeting African violet? Last Updated on March 23, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. Tragically, the Native people who upheld this sacred tradition were decimated by diseases such as smallpox and measles in the 1830s. She is a gifted speaker and teacher. Crnica de un rescate de enjambre de abejas silvestresanunciado. These questions may be posed to an entire class, to small groups, to online communities, or as personal reflective prompts. As the field trip progresses and the students come to understand more fully their relationship with the earth, Kimmerer explains how the current climate crisis, specifically the destruction of wetland habitation, becomes not just an abstract problem to be solved on an intellectual level but an extremely personal mission. 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. [Illustration offered as an anonymous gift :-)]. What aspects did you find difficult to understand? Woven Ways of Knowing | Open Rivers Journal So I stretch out, close my eyes, and listen to the rain. The gods send disasters to strike them, and they also give the rest of creation their own voices to speak out against their mistreatment. Otherwise, consider asking these ten questions in conjunction with the chapter-specific questions for a deeper discussion. Maybe there is no such thing as rain; there are only raindrops, each with its own story. The questionssampled here focus onreader experience and connection. 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 second date is today's Braiding sweetgrass : indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants / Robin Wall Kimmerer. Did the Depression-era reference hit home with you? nature, rain, pandemic times, moments of life, garden, and light. 2) Look back over the introductory pages for each section"Planting Sweetgrass", "Tending Sweetgrass", Picking Sweetgrass", "Braiding Sweetgrass"for each of these sections Kimmerer includes a short preface statement. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. Braiding Sweetgrass Summary & Study Guide - www.BookRags.com And, how can we embrace a hopeful, tangible approach to healing the natural world before its too late? Inside looking out, I could not bear the loneliness of being dry in a wet world. Does the act of assigning scientific labels halt exploration? Braiding Sweetgrass Book Club Questions - Inspired Epicurean This is the water that moves under the stream, in cobble beds and old sandbars. She served as Gallery Director and Curator for the All My Relations Gallery in Minneapolis from 2011-2015. Its messagekeepsreaching new people, having been translated so far into nearly 20 languages. 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. Many of the pants have since become invasive species, choking or otherwise endangering native species to sustain their own pace of exponential growth. Braiding Sweetgrass Chapter 28 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts Privacy | Do not sell my personal information | Cookie preferences | Report noncompliance | Terms of use| 2022 Autodesk Inc. All rights reserved, Braiding Sweetgrass, Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants. Exactly how they do this, we don't yet know. publication online or last modification online. Visualize an element of the natural world and write a letter of appreciation and observation. Witness to the rain Published December 15, 2017 Title Witness to the rain Authors: Kimmerer, Robin W. Secondary Authors: Fleischner, Thomas L. Publication Type Book Section Year of Publication: 2011 Publisher Name: Trinity University Press Publisher City: San Antonio, TX Accession Number: AND4674 URL As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. The second is the date of Kimmerer, Robin Wall : eAudiobook - Toronto Public Library Her writing about the importance of maintaining indigenous language and culture also elicited feelings of tenderness and sadness from me. She isnt going for a walk or gathering kindling or looking for herbs; shes just paying attention. Creating notes and highlights requires a free LitCharts account. When you have all the time in the world, you can spend it, not on going somewhere, but on being where you are. everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Braiding Sweetgrass. It has created powerful tools for ravaging the planets ecosystems, creating a hard path for our descendants.