Reviews with content warning for Racism - Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

48 reviews

dhiyanah's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

There's a profound heaviness we feel about our collective wounds and responsibilities in how the planet is changing, suffering, and asking for help during these times. I'm grateful this book doesn't shy away from that, giving language to the overwhelm we're navigating, tracing it back to our ruptured connection with land and the patterns upheld to keep us in constant states of struggle, survival, and forgetfulness.

By sharing her lived experiences in reclaiming, remembering, and honoring practices kept alive by her own and other indigenous lineages (US-based), the author invites us to reflect on our own capacities and efforts of being in right relationship with the living world. In this book, I found reflections of how my own struggles of unbelonging and loneliness are linked to a sense of feeling orphaned from land, from wider community. I found deep queries and burning desires within me - not having much framework for being local to anywhere - to embody a more reciprocal and grounded approach to the natural world, to this planet who still feeds and tends to us through all this chaos.

For this and so much more, I feel this is a crucial read to help situate and cultivate hope, courage, and determination within as we journey through these giant waves of grief and renewal with our Mother Earth.

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barbarella85's review against another edition

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informative reflective

5.0

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for_esme_with_love's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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dontwritedown's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.75

I have really mixed feelings about "Braiding Sweetgrass". It is quickly becoming the new "Teachings of Little Tree" minus the fact that the author's actually Native. You see it on every Native American Heritage Month reading list and if you're a voracious reader that happens to be Native, people either ask your opinion about it or just straight up tell you your opinion.

I had only read sections of the book in college, as this particular field doesn't interest me, like I care about the Earth, but I don't care so much that I'd be sharing closed tribal secrets to make you care unless I was dating you. Now this may also come from the fact that I am Haudenosaunee and she is Anishnaabe, but I do have a problem with her sharing so much more of Haud culture that Nish, especially without directly citing which elder told her what and gave her permission to include in her book, a problem that many before me have spoken up about. Like I never really understood why other Natives had an issue with the book from the excerpts I read, until I really got into it and was like.....yeah I see why it's a problem and I see why so many people want more diversity on these book reading lists.

Which brings me to the topic I had an issue with: the w*nd*go chapters and references. It's clear Robin is a Native woman of science who probably does not view that entity with as much respect as she should, but I personally felt very violated reading that chapter as you are NEVER supposed to use their name. And she used it SEVERAL times and it was an audiobook that I was listening to. There needs to be a censored version, in my opinion, for those of us who want to follow the traditional way of not naming these entities. I am not sure if she actually ran into one or just used one as a metaphor but bro that ain't cool (like I'm not trying to doubt her run in but as someone who has experience with scary, ancient supernatural entities this was the wrong way to address her experience in my opinion). And the way she used the entity in the epilogue just.....look I get it you want nonNatives to care about the Earth the way we care for the Earth but come on there had to be a better way than THAT!

Overall, if this book is at the top of your list for NAHM, please find a Native who will give you better book reccs. They're out there. Can we retire this one for a bit? Please I'm begging you.

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val_so_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

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art_books_chemistry's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

Braiding Sweetgrass is a combination memoir and reflective essay, mashed together with a history and science lesson. As a botanist, Kimmerer is able to use scientific logic to explain some of the cultural teachings of her and other indigenous peoples. She also uses these teachings to evaluate morality and the relationship humans have with the earth. A lot of her stories focus on the process of living off the land whether because you have to or simply because by being here we are doing so.

Listening to Kimmerer narrating was very relaxing and nearly meditative. I listened to a lot of this while walking back and forth through Cleveland from my hotel to the convention center while attending a conference. That being said, I could not listen to this while multitasking before bed, as for the same reason it would cause me to drift off to sleep. I also found some of her stories to be a bit repetitive in their lessons. I suppose it could have been to drive home her points but it also caused me to drift out occasionally since I knew where she was going with a story.

I really enjoyed hearing her talk about Indigenous teachings and how she tries to implement them in her academic classrooms as well as her life. Some of the points definitely made me think about some things I could maybe try or do myself. There were also several sad parts relating to her learning her own language as an adult and the attitudes of some of the people in academia.

If you're looking to understand some Indigenous peoples better or just to understand a different view regarding caring for the Earth this is definitely a good book. If you aren't interested in the subject matter it may feel a bit dry and repetitive at points.

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