Read This Book…

This book is simultaneously absolutely beautiful and wildly anger-inducing. One of academia’s problems is that there is no wiggle room for studying something outside of a rigid set of westernized, colonialist rules. Full disclosure: I work at a university and I appreciate the scientific method and also there are multiple ways of learning about the world around us.

Dr. Kimmerer is a biologist, environmental scientist, decorated professor, a mother, and an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Before I read this book, I imagined that trying to bridge the gap between Indigenous wisdom and scientific knowledge would be like trying to walk a tightrope. Dr. Kimmerer makes it clear that it is actually more like examining something that is woven. They aren’t two separate thoughts and instead are intimately related, as if they are woven into each other.

One of the many ideas that rocked my world is to think of everything in the world as a gift instead of a commodity. When something is free, many of us will tend to take what we need and not be greedy. How different would the world be if we only take what we need? In fact, when used for ceremonies at powwows, sweetgrass cannot be bought; it must be a gift. Dr. Kimmerer walks us through some research about sweetgrass and the symbiotic relationship between the sweetgrass and humans. It must be shared from the Earth and harvested to survive.

I was particularly enamored by the section on sugar maples and what it takes to make maple syrup. I really appreciated the sections on salmon on the west coast and learning about the devastating effects humans have had. This is the first time I’ve been taught explicitly about what happened and what can be done to reverse the damage and how some people are trying.

I was surprised by the section on hunting. In fact, the author herself states, when talking about a fur trapper, “I have to confess that I’d shuttered my mind before I even met him. There was nothing a fur trapper could say that I wanted to hear.” I was also very skeptical but I went along for the ride and kept reading and my understanding has deepened significantly.

I love this book so much and I hope you do too.