Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, adapted by Monique Gray Smith

 


 “They tried to bury us, but they didn’t know we were seeds.”

 Dino Christalopoulos

   Sweetgrass is considered to be the hair of Mother Earth in Potawatomi culture, and to braid it is to show loving care for her well-being. Sweetgrass has medicinal properties and is traditionally used to make baskets. The fragrance of sweetgrass combines the sweetness of vanilla with the fresh scent of moist earth.

 The author writes, “I could hand you a braid of sweetgrass as thick and shining as the braid that hung down my grandmother’s back. But it is not mine to give, nor yours to take. Wingaashk belongs to herself.”

 As an educator, I want to recommend Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. This specific edition adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith contains questions that spark meaningful conversations, reflections and a wellspring of ideas to write essays.

   This book is an excellent resource to awaken an interest in how plants are woven into our cultures and how our connection with animals and plants can teach us how to share the world with others.

  I think the content of the book can be incorporated into the curriculum of science, literature and history, and I hope Braiding Sweetgrass will be translated into other languages, for it is an invaluable resource for high schoolers and teachers across the world.

   I hope every school library owns one of these books.

  The author is a plant scientist and a poet. Her writing style is irresistible, poetical and impeccable. Robin Wall Kimmerer had her writing published in scientific journals as well as literary ones. She is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is a distinguished professor of Environmental Biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the environment.

 Braiding Sweetgrass integrates history and scientific facts about plants and ecosystems. It also shares illustrated stories. Each chapter offers questions that induce readers to muse on our relationships and interactions with one another, Mother Earth and other living beings.

  Each chapter inspires readers to behold the world through fresh eyes, contemplate their surroundings with empathy and curiosity and make respectful choices that embody gratitude, reciprocity and the spirit of cooperation.

  There are many interesting facts and historical details that help us to understand that respect for the land is also about respecting and healing ourselves. In practical terms, her introspective narrative can bring awareness and lead to constructive solutions on many levels.

 It is time for economists to acknowledge that we should not ignore the limitations of a finite planet. The consequences of neglecting the ecological dimension of the financial challenges have a cost. She writes, “Ecological economists argue for reforms. They work to ground economics in ecological principles that are constrained by thermodynamics. If we want to maintain quality of life, they urge that we must sustain natural capital and ecosystem services.”

  I appreciate how she threads into her unpretentious prose the teachings and wisdom of the Potawatomi culture. For example, here’s a passage that illustrates this:

  “In Potawatomi and many other Indigenous languages, it is not possible to speak of living beings as it. Sure, we still have words for objects—desk, tractors, phone, but they do not describe anything living. Objects made by humans are inanimate.”  It is different from the way they refer to living beings. In Potawatomi culture they apply their own grammar of respect to living beings, which she refers to as the grammar of animacy. She expresses this clearly, “We use words to address the living world, just as we use for our family. Because they are our family.”

  She wonders if there is a way to bring animacy into the English Language. You can read page 12 for more details on her suggestions and her intention.

  The illustrations by Nicole Neidhart add a charming, amusing touch to the edition for young adults, and I’m sure they will inspire many students to express themselves through art as well.



 On Indigenous stories and why she chose to include them

“I am a listener and I have been listening to stories told around me for longer than I care to admit. I mean to honor my teachers by passing on the stories that they have passed on to me and have done my best to give credit to who and where these stories came from.”

  The book offers the opportunity to reflect at the crossroads we are now and to choose a path of collaboration.

  Separation from Mother Nature is a state of loneliness, a detachment from reality that compromises our health. We see it on a regular basis when we encounter the arrogance of those who deny the lifesaving nature of this connection, the fact that we exist as part of a whole. When we kill that sense of belonging from our awareness, we are deprived of health and harmony in the way we live our lives.

 Robin Wall Kimmerer describes this as a “species loneliness.” She writes, “It is a deep unnamed sadness stemming from separation from the rest of Creation, from the loss of relationship. As our human dominance of the world has grown, we have become more and more isolated.”



 Yet Mother Earth gives us the chance to heal our relationship with her. When you feel overwhelmed, take some time outdoors. Infuse the body with the fresh fragrance of the earth…

 “Recent research has shown that the smell of humus exerts a physiological effect on humans. Breathing in the scent of Mother Earth stimulates within us the production of serotonin. Serotonin is a brain chemical that plays a role in regulating mood and behavior.” 



  I disagree with the author when she attaches the label of “Western” to distorted views on nature, because she establishes a false dichotomy—Western versus Eastern-- that does not reflect the truth. The use of those labels is misleading. If these labels were reflective of the truth, we would not be witnessing the brutal slaughter of whales by the Japanese government, and Indonesia would not have destroyed seventy percent of its forests.

 There is work to do everywhere. Both the Western and Eastern worlds need to be part of this movement of solidarity and respect for the land and her creatures. On the other hand, the use of labels and generalizations leads to lack of accountability and a pattern of lazy thinking. It sows prejudices and divisive attitudes that refuse to welcome each individual as a unique contributor to the forest of life. 

  The strong foundation of the book lies in the precious teachings of the Honorable Harvest and the Thanksgiving address.

  I will be returning to Braiding Sweetgrass often to reread parts of it. This unique book transports the self to a setting of peace and harmony, a land of inspiration and reunion with one’s intuition and love for nature.

 


 To gain a better understanding on the need to incorporate ecological economics into mainstream economics, feel free to read this interview with Robert Costanza, en ecological economist:

 https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-is-ecological-economics

 I found a more updated article by Robert Costanza, so I am sharing it here:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/beyond-growth-eu-economy-gdp-sustainable-wellbeing/