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Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
96 reviews
marmitecake's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Colonisation, Suicide, Animal death, and Blood
thereadinghammock's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Robin Wall Kimmerer reads this weaving of story, history, cultural reclamation, and scientific exploration in beautiful narrative and such a calming voice. I was entranced by the cultural stories, celebrations of the land and natural world by the Indigenous communities across the country. I enjoyed seeing the marrying of traditional land stewardship with contemporary western science; possibly even more when traditional stewardship shows how care and respect for the world around us can also care for us in turn.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation and Genocide
Minor: Racism and Grief
dominic_t's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This was a really fascinating book. The author did a great job of weaving together stories and plant teachings. The stories really made the plant teachings come alive. This book got me thinking a lot more deeply about nature and my relationship to the world.
I had heard about the Three Sisters (squash, beans, and corn), and I loved learning about why they grow so well together. The beans' vines wrap around the corn, which lifts their pods off the ground so that they don't get eaten by predators. The beans also provide nitrogen, which helps the corn and squash. The squash reduces weeds. I really hope I have enough space someday to grow a Three Sisters garden.
I also loved the chapter "Wisgaak Gokpenagen: A Black Ash Basket." The author talks about the process of weaving black ash baskets, starting from picking out a tree to cut down. It was really fascinating hearing about every step of the process.
The chapter "Sitting in a Circle" talked about foraging in a cattail marsh. It was fascinating to hear all the ways that you can use cattails and other marsh plants. I had no idea that you could eat cattails or that pollen had nutritional value.
"Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass" was another great chapter. One of her students was studying the best way to harvest sweetgrass to protect the population. The faculty committee thought she was wasting her time because they thought that harvesting sweetgrass would damage the population regardless of the harvesting method. She ran an experiment where she tried out different harvest methods, and she found that harvesting sweetgrass stimulated more growth, regardless of the method of harvest. It was a cool way to see how traditional knowledge is backed up by science.
I had heard about the Three Sisters (squash, beans, and corn), and I loved learning about why they grow so well together. The beans' vines wrap around the corn, which lifts their pods off the ground so that they don't get eaten by predators. The beans also provide nitrogen, which helps the corn and squash. The squash reduces weeds. I really hope I have enough space someday to grow a Three Sisters garden.
I also loved the chapter "Wisgaak Gokpenagen: A Black Ash Basket." The author talks about the process of weaving black ash baskets, starting from picking out a tree to cut down. It was really fascinating hearing about every step of the process.
The chapter "Sitting in a Circle" talked about foraging in a cattail marsh. It was fascinating to hear all the ways that you can use cattails and other marsh plants. I had no idea that you could eat cattails or that pollen had nutritional value.
"Mishkos Kenomagwen: The Teachings of Grass" was another great chapter. One of her students was studying the best way to harvest sweetgrass to protect the population. The faculty committee thought she was wasting her time because they thought that harvesting sweetgrass would damage the population regardless of the harvesting method. She ran an experiment where she tried out different harvest methods, and she found that harvesting sweetgrass stimulated more growth, regardless of the method of harvest. It was a cool way to see how traditional knowledge is backed up by science.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Genocide
readingwithkaitlyn's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Death, Colonisation, Suicide, War, Genocide, Blood, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder
residential schools, trail of death, carlisle, pollution.novella42's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
johns122's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation
thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Genocide
salemander's review against another edition
5.0
i think this is the best book i’ve ever read, if not the best book ever written. a beautiful mix of memoir and history and knowledge. kimmerer takes you through the tragic massacres of the indigenous peoples, and the ways in which they have persevered and kept their culture and traditions alive. she talks about her own childhood and her relationship with the earth. this book taught me so much and also just reminded me how much i don’t know and still have to learn. i highly recommend listening to the audiobook as well, kimmerer narrates it herself and the pure passion in her words along with the poetry of her writing is so powerful. i can’t wait to read this over and over again
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, and Racism
grace_b_3's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
3.0
I really appreciated the message of this book, about humans being a part of the environment, and how we, as humans, should live in and with nature. However, the writing style wasn't for me, as I prefer drier, denser nonfiction. If you like to read poetry and memoirs, you'll probably really enjoy this, as the writing style might be more in line with your tastes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation and Animal death
theabee's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation