Braiding sweetgrass : Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants Cover Image

E-book

Braiding sweetgrass : Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants / Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Summary:

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. 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 of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our ol.

"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, a mother, and 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 a rich braid of 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 a wider 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." -- Provided by publisher

Record details

ISBN: 9781571318718
ISBN: 1571318712
ISBN: 1306435528
ISBN: 9781306435529
ISBN: 1571313567
ISBN: 9781571313560
Physical Description: 1 online resource (405 pages)
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Minneapolis, Minnesota : Milkweed Editions, 2013.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 387-388).
Formatted Contents Note:	Planting sweetgrass -- Tending sweetgrass -- Picking sweetgrass -- Braiding sweetgrass -- Burning sweetgrass -- Epilogue : returning the gift.
Source of Description Note:	Print version record.