Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez

16 reviews

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

I'm glad I read this! Some of the ideas were repeated frequently throughout, but it brings a necessary perspective to environmental science and, more broadly, colonial science and research practices. I can see this being particularly valuable for those working in the sciences today, as the author's discussions on the colonial framework that built conservation and environmental justice movements is a meaningful challenge to contemporary liberal thinking. This is also a helpful read for those (like me!) who are more familiar with North American Indigenous history and writing, as the author's commentary on the political history of Central America and the genocide of Central American Indigenous communities challenge readers to deconstruct our assumptions about "Latinidad." I enjoyed the narration by Stacy Gonzalez and would recommend audio to other readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, War, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Racial slurs

siasprout's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, Xenophobia, and Racism

Minor: War

heydebigale's review

challenging dark informative medium-paced

5.0

This book explains why western science is failing to protect our land and why we should center the experience of Indigenous people in environmental science.

Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Racism, and War

risaleel's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Deportation, Child death, and Cultural appropriation

katischr's review

challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

A very thorough overview of how the cultures that Dr. Hernandez is a part of view the natural world, the threats they face because of colonialism, and how things can be made better. She shows how many different issues, such as climate, food, political and gender issues all interconnect and tie in to conservation. The writing was a bit jumbled at times but the point still came across.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: War and Xenophobia

onlyonebookshelf's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Racism and Xenophobia

katharina90's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book beautifully summarizes: 
 -the pervasive settler colonialism and anti-Indigenous racism in areas like academia, environmental sciences and 'conservation' (which includes National Parks--louder for the people in the back!)
 -the continued colonization of Indigenous knowledge, from invalidation and erasure to theft and co-optation (especially in academia)
 -human supremacist delusion a.k.a. the Western failure/ unwillingness to recognize that we, as human animals, are part of nature and everything is interconnected
 -that capitalism commodifies everything, incl. our animal and plant kin, when we should only be taking what we need and live in right relationship
 -settler colonial capitalist extraction is why 'conservation' is needed in the first place 

Informed by her cultural teachings the author reframes conservation as healing, and non-native invasive species as displaced relatives, amongst many other nuggets of Indigenous wisdom shared so generously in this book. 

I love that she calls out the audacity of white people to deride non-native plants when WE brought them to these lands. 
As well as the hypocrisy of settlers to imply only native plant species belong here, while failing to apply that same principle to other species.

Meanwhile, the genocide of Indigenous peoples in the Americas is ongoing.

"Due to all the beliefs and value systems colonizers introduced into the Americas, Indigenous rights and land protectors are a threat to every settler government." 

LAND BACK. 
A livable planet depends on it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Genocide, Racism, and War

Minor: Child death, Xenophobia, Confinement, and Deportation

wy_woman's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, War, and Racism

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Misogyny, Violence, and Sexism

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

There is a lot of good, valuable information in this book, but the lack of editing makes it a difficult read, both on the basic prose level (words and sentences repeated) and on the level of the information provided (misattributed quotation, mixing up fair and free trade, describing England as an Eastern European nation).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Genocide, War, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Slavery and Child death

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

I read this for the nonfiction prompt of the Skoden Readathon hosted in November by @nativeladybookwarrior (on IG and YouTube). 

I really expected to like this more! I found it to be repetitive so while I enjoyed the first third, it became redundant as I continued on.

I appreciated the family stories that the author shared, the El Salvadoran history, the symbol of the banana leaves which made the title make so much sense.

If you're new to ideas of Indigenous environmental science and respectful relationships with plants and the earth, maybe this will be good for you! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Violence, and Colonisation

Moderate: War

Forced migration, child soldiers