6/19/2023 0 Comments Braiding sweetgrass book![]() ![]() The Potawatomi grammar treats far more objects as if they are alive than English does. She also tries to learn her traditional language, but it is very difficult. ![]() When the author first arrives at college to study botany, her Indigenous identity clashes with the more empirical worldviews of her professors, but she manages to resolve these issues. The author also recounts her father’s small ceremonies and their importance in showing respect. Kimmerer then discusses the gift economies of Indigenous people and how they differ from the market economies found in most modern Western societies. ![]() ![]() Pecans are symbols of reciprocity, in that pecan trees ensure their survival by feeding people at times of great need, such as when the federal government forcibly relocated the Potawatomi from the Great Lakes region to reservations in Oklahoma. Next, the author discusses pecans and their value as sustenance. As a scientist, the author teaches Skywoman’s story to guide her students to a sustainable future informed by Indigenous traditions. Kimmerer goes on to introduce the story of Skywoman, a foundational figure in Indigenous creation stories whose arrival on earth brought the first plants, including sweetgrass. Kimmerer likens braiding sweetgrass into baskets to her braiding together three narrative strands: “indigenous ways of knowing, scientific knowledge, and the story of an Anishinaabekwe scientist trying to bring them together” (x). An herb native to North America, sweetgrass is sacred to Indigenous people in the United States and Canada. ![]()
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