What have you worked hard for, like tapping maples? What can we offer the environment that supplies us with so much? But they're gifts, too. When was the last time you experienced a meditative moment listening to the rain? Witness to the rain | Andrews Forest Research Program 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.". Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. What aspects did you find difficult to understand? 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. Was there a passage that struck you and stayed with you after you finished reading? I read this book almost like a book of poetry, and it was a delightful one to sip and savor. The story focuses on the central role of the cattail plant, which can fulfill a variety of human needs, as the students discover. PDF Allegiance to Gratitude - Swarthmore College Kimmerer combines the indigenous wisdom shes learned over the years with her scientific training to find a balance between systems-based thinking and more thorny points of ethics that need to be considered if we want to meet the needs of every individual in a community. Maybe there is no such thing as time; there are only moments, each with its own story. The questionssampled here focus on. Begun in 2011, the project, called Helping Forests Walk, has paired SUNY scholars with local Indigenous people to learn how to . I want to feel what the cedars feel and know what they know. Ed. What are your thoughts regarding the concepts of: The destruction resulting from convenience, Do you agree with the idea that killing a who evokes a different response from humans than killing an it?. The ultimate significance of Braiding Sweetgrass is one of introspection; how do we reciprocate the significant gifts from the Earth in a cyclical fashion that promotes sustainability, community, and a sense of belonging? Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Give your attention to the plants and natural elements around you. What have you overlooked or taken for granted? In: Fleischner, Thomas L., ed. Its messagekeepsreaching new people, having been translated so far into nearly 20 languages. 226 likes. In 2013, Braiding Sweetgrass was written by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Quote by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Recent support for White Hawks work has included 2019 United States Artists Fellowship in Visual Art, 2019 Eiteljorg Fellowship for Contemporary Art, 2019 Jerome Hill Artists Fellowship, 2019 Forecast for Public Art Mid-Career Development Grant, 2018 Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Artists, 2017 and 2015 Native Arts and Cultures Foundation Fellowships, 2014 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, and 2013/14 McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship. 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. Its about pursuing the wants and needs of humans, with less concern for the more-than-human world. The drop swells on the tip of the of a cedar and I catch in on my tongue like a blessing. I suppose thats the way we are as humans, thinking too much and listening too little. I share delicious vegan recipes (with a few flexitarian recipes from my pre-vegan days). Kimmerer's claim with second and even third thoughts about the contradic-tions inherent in notions of obligation that emerge in the receiving of gifts. These Braiding Sweetgrass book club questions are intended to be used as discussion points post-reading, and not a guide during the reading itself. Word Count: 1124. 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. Robin Wall Kimmerer: 'Mosses are a model of how we might live' "Burning Sweetgrass" is the final section of this book. . Kimmerer closes by describing the Indigenous idea that each part of creation has its own unique gift, like a bird with its song. If so, how? She's completely comfortable moving between the two and their co-existence within her mind gives her a unique understanding of her experience. If there is meaning in the past and in the imagined future, it is captured in the moment. These writing or creative expression promptsmight be used for formal assignments or informal exercises. Dr. 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. Kimmerer's words to your own sense of place and purpose at Hotchkiss. "Witness to the Rain" The Christuman Way Listening, standing witness, creates an openness to the world in which boundaries between us can dissolve in a raindrop." From 'Witness to Rain' [essay], BRAIDING SWEETGRASS: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, 2015 by Milkweed Editions. It perceives the family of life to be little more than a complex biochemical machine. Already a member? Drew Lanhamrender possibilities for becoming better kin and invite us into the ways . Prior to its arrival on the New York Times Bestseller List, Braiding Sweetgrass was on the best seller list of its publisher, Milkweed Editions. What did you think of the concept of the journey of plants relating to the journey of people? 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. What's a summary of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Words of Water Wisdom: Robin Wall Kimmerer - One Water Blog Similarly, each moment in time is shaped by human experience, and a moment that might feel long for a butterfly might pass by in the blink of an eye for a human and might seem even shorter for a millennia-old river. A graceful, illuminating study of the wisdom of the natural world, from a world-renowned indigenous scientist. Braiding Sweetgrass a book by Robin Wall Kimmerer 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. This article highlights the findings of the literature on aboriginal fire from the human- and the land-centered disciplines, and suggests that the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples be incorporated into plans for reintroducing fire to the nation's forests. I must admit I had my reservations about this book before reading it. LitCharts Teacher Editions. 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. Shes completely comfortable moving between the two and their co-existence within her mind gives her a unique understanding of her experience. in the sand, but because joy. Artist Tony Drehfal is a wood engraver, printmaker, and photographer. 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. . Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Every drip it seems is changed by its relationship with life, whether it encounters moss or maple or fir bark or my hair. People who lived in the old-growth forest belonged to a community of beings that included humans, plants, and animals who were interdependent and equal. By clicking subscribe, I agree to receive the One Water blog newsletter and acknowledge the Autodesk Privacy Statement. In this way, Kimmerer encourages the reader to let go of the ways in which humans have attempted to define the world, emphasizing instead the wisdom of nonhuman beings. The series Takes Care of Us honors native women and the care, protection, leadership and love the provide for their communities. The trees act not as individuals, but somehow as a collective. tis is how they learned to survive, when they had little. 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. please join the Buffs OneRead community course: In Witness to the Rain, Kimmerer gives uninterrupted attention to the natural world around her. At root, Kimmerer is seeking to follow an ancient model for new pathways to sustainability. 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 . We've designed some prompts to help students, faculty, and all of the CU community to engage with the 2021 Buffs OneRead. Ancient Green - Robin Wall Kimmerer - Emergence Magazine Finally, the gods make people out of ground corn meal. This nonfiction the power of language, especially learning the language of your ancestors to connect you to your culture as well as the heartbreaking fact that indigenous children who were banned from speaking anything from English in academic settings. How do we compensate the plants for what weve received? Required fields are marked *. October 6, 2021 / janfalls. He did so in a forty-acre plot of land where the old-growth forests had been destroyed by logging operations since the 1880s. These people have no gratitude or love within them, however, and they disrespect the rest of creation. Welcome! As water professionals, can we look closely enough at the raindrops to learn from them and respect the careful balance of these interactions when we design and build the infrastructure we rely on? The Role of Indigenous Burning in Land Management - OUP Academic 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. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. "As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent . 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. (LogOut/ Do you consider sustainability a diminished standard of living? 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. 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. We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the tree that became this page, a bag of rice and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom. The following questions are divided by section and chapter, and can stand independently or as a group. How do you feel about solidity as an illusion? Sweet Briar hosts Robin Wall Kimmerer and series of events She isnt going for a walk or gathering kindling or looking for herbs; shes just paying attention. As for the rest of it, although I love the author's core message--that we need to find a relationship to the land based on reciprocity and gratitude, rather than exploitation--I have to admit, I found the book a bit of a struggle to get through. Do you feel a deeper connection to your local plants now? Were you familiar with Carlisle, Pennsylvania prior to this chapter? What is the significance of Braiding Sweetgrass? This point of view isnt all that radical. The motorists speeding by have no idea the unique and valuable life they are destroying for the sake of their own convenience. Then she listens. Robin Wall Kimmerer on the Gifts of Mother Earth Literary Hub One of my goals this year was to read more non-fiction, a goal I believe I accomplished. Do you feel rooted to any particular place? Braiding Sweetgrass is a nonfiction work of art by Dr. Robin Kimmerer. Do you consider them inanimate objects? The way of natural history. Braiding sweetgrass - Kelley Library Get help and learn more about the design. What are your thoughts regarding the democracy of species concept? 'Medicine for the Earth': Robin Wall Kimmerer to discuss relationship I don't know what else to say. Copyright 2022 Cook'd Pro on the Cook'd Pro Theme, Banana Tahini Cookies (Vegan, Gluten Free), Blackberry Strawberry Banana Smoothie (Vegan, Gluten Free). Read the Epilogue of Braiding Sweetgrass, Returning the Gift. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses.She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental . If your book club is about to read "Braiding Sweetgrass" and has limited time for discussion, consider sticking with these ten general questions that are intended to instigate conversation about the book as a whole. Does the act of assigning scientific labels halt exploration? As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Witness to the Rain, Kimmerer gives uninterrupted attention to the natural world around her. Otherwise, consider asking these ten questions in conjunction with the chapter-specific questions for a deeper discussion. This book contains one exceptional essay that I would highly recommend to everyone, "The Sacred and the Superfund." What can benefit from the merging of worlds, like the intersection of Western science and Indigenous teachings? The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. BOOK REVIEW: Braiding Sweetgrass: indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Specifically, this chapter highlights how it is more important to focus on growing a brighter future for the following generations rather than seeking revenge for the wrongs suffered by previous generations. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the 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! In In the Footsteps of Nanabozho: Becoming Indigenous to Place, Kimmerer compares Nanabozhos journey to the arrival of immigrant plants carried from the Old World and rehabilitated in American soil. a material, scientific inventory of the natural world." It invokes the "ancient order of protocols" which "sets gratitude as the highest priority." Woven Ways of Knowing | Open Rivers Journal Oh my goodness, what an absolutely gorgeous book with possibly the best nature writing I've ever read. If there is one book you would want the President to read this year, what would it be? 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. Rather than seeing the forest as a commodity to be harvested for profit, the Salish Indians who had lived in the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years preserved the forest intact. Follow us onLinkedIn,Twitter, orInstagram. Braiding Sweetgrass - By Robin Wall Kimmerer : Target ", University of Colorado Boulder Libraries, Buffs One Read 2022-2023: Braiding Sweetgrass, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdome Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants. During times of plenty, species are able to survive on their own but when conditions become harsh it is only through inter-species reciprocity that they can hope to survive. (Siangu Lakota, b. Braiding sweetgrass : indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants / Robin Wall Kimmerer. 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? . She is the co-founder and past president of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge section of the Ecological Society of America. Abstract. What do you consider the power of ceremony? OK, this book was a journey and not a precisely pleasant one. Link to other LTER Network Site Profiles. When people are in the presence of nature, often no other lesson is needed to move them to awe. 2023 . Skywoman Falling - NYU Reads - New York University Robin Wall Kimmerer from the her bookBraiding Sweetgrass. Robin Kimmerer: 'Take What Is Given to You' - Bioneers Kimmerer, Robin W. 2011. Just read it. As Kimmerer writes, "Political action, civic engagement - these are powerful acts of reciprocity with the land." This lesson echoes throughout the entire book so please take it from Kimmerer, and not from me. Elsewhere the rain on . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); To live in radical joyous shared servanthood to unify the Earth Family. Learning about Gratitude from the Onondaga - Debra Rienstra Kimmerer describes Skywoman as an "ancestral gardener" and Eve as an "exile". know its power in many formswaterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans, snow and ice. Log in here. So I stretch out, close my eyes, and listen to the rain. 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. Clearly I am in the minority here, as this book has some crazy high ratings overall. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. Complete your free account to access notes and highlights. How can we create our own stories (or lenses) to view sacred relationships? The chapters therein are Windigo Footprints, The Sacred and the Superfund, People of Corn, People of Light, Collateral Damage, Shkitagen: People of the Seventh Fire, Defeating Windigo, and Epilogue. These chapters paint an apocalyptic picture of the environmental destruction occurring around the world today and urge the reader to consider ways in which this damage can be stemmed. Robin Kimmerers relation to nature delighted and amazed me, and at the same time plunged me into envy and near despair. Because she made me wish that I could be her, that my own life could have been lived as fully, as close to nature, and as gratefully as hers. eNotes.com, Inc. 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. 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. (LogOut/ Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. She speaks about each drops path as completely different, interacting with a multitude of organic and inorganic matter along the way, sometimes becoming bigger or smaller, sometimes picking up detritus along the way or losing some of its fullness. It was not until recently that the dikes were removed in an effort to restore the original salt marsh ecosystem. . Where will the raindrops land? over despair. How does Kimmerer use myths to illustrate her ideas in Braiding Sweetgrass? Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations is a five-volume series exploring our deep interconnections with the living world and the interdependence that exists between humans and nonhuman beings. Braiding Sweetgrass & Lessons Learned - For Educators - Florida Museum RECIPROCITY. Its not as big as a maple drop, not big enough to splash, but its popp ripples the surface and sends out concentric rings. Our lifestyle content is crafted to bring eco-friendly and sustainable ideas more mainstream. How can we refrain from interfering with the sacred purpose of another being? Why is the world so beautiful? An Indigenous botanist on the - CBC How did this change or reinforce your understanding of gifts and gift-giving? Despairing towards the end of the trip that she had focused too much on scientific graphing of vegetation and too little on the spiritual importance of land, Kimmerer recalls being humbled as the students began to sing Amazing Grace. How do we change our economy or our interaction within the economy that is destroying the environment? Instant PDF downloads. Rain on Leaves on a Forest Road in Autumn - YouTube What did you think of Robins use of movement as metaphor and time? Dr. 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. As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. Where will they go? Dr. Kimmerer invites us to view our surroundings through a new lens; perhaps a lens we should have been using all along. Looking at mosses close up is, she insists, a comforting, mindful thing: "They're the most overlooked plants on the planet. By Robin Kimmerer ; 1,201 total words . But just two stars for the repetitive themes, the disorganization of the book as a whole, the need for editing and shortening in many places. Afterward they want to create a creature who can speak, and so they try to make humans. San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press: 187-195. Did you recognize yourself or your experiences in it? If this paragraph appeals to you, then so will the entire book, which is, as Elizabeth Gilbert says in her blurb, a hymn of love to the world. ~, CMS Internet Solutions, Inc, Bovina New York, The Community Newspaper for the Town of Andes, New York, BOOK REVIEW: Braiding Sweetgrass: indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer April 2020, FROM DINGLE HILL: For The Birds January 2023, MARK PROJECT DESCRIBES GRANTS AVAILABLE FOR LARGE TOWN 2023 BUDGET WAS APPROVED, BELOW 2% TAX CAP January 2022, ACS ANNOUNCES CLASS OF 2018 TOP STUDENTS June 2018, FIRE DEPARTMENT KEEPS ON TRUCKING February 2017, FLOOD COMMISSION NO SILVER BULLET REPORT ADOPTED BY TOWN BOARD June 2018. Both seek to combine their scientific, technical training with the feeling of connectedness and wholeness they get from being immersed by nature to bring about a more balanced way of living with the land. Will the language you use when referencing plants change? I had no idea how much I needed this book until I read it. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental . Sign In, Acknowledgements text to use in a publication. The other chapter that captured me is titled Witness to the Rain. Rather than being historical, it is descriptive and meditative. Witness to the Rain. This study guide contains the following sections: This detailed literature summary also contains Topics for Discussion on Braiding Sweetgrass Quotes by Robin Wall Kimmerer - Goodreads 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. It teaches the reader so many things about plants and nature in general. nature, rain, pandemic times, moments of life, garden, and light. Maples do their fair share for us; how well do we do by them? help you understand the book. The Andrews Forest (AND) Program is part of the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network established by the National Science Foundation. Throughout five sections that mirror the important lifecycle of sweetgrass, Dr. Kimmerer unfolds layers of Indigenous wisdom that not only captures the attention of the reader, but also challenges the perspectives of Western thought in a beautiful and passionate way. She asks this question as she tells the stories of Native American displacement, which forever changed the lives of her . 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. I was intimated going into it (length, subject I am not very familiar with, and the hype this book has) but its incredibly accessible and absolutely loved up to the seemingly unanimous five star ratings.