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Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez
3 reviews
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.
-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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Genocide, Racism, and War
Minor: Child death, Xenophobia, Confinement, and Deportation
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Racism, Violence, and Colonisation
Moderate: War
Forced migration, child soldiersallisonwonderlandreads's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Fresh Banana Leaves offers a holistic view of Indigenous science, unpacking settler colonialism and its destruction. The author is a member of Maya Ch'orti' and Zapotec communities as well as holding a PhD in environmental science. She shares historical information, personal interviews and family history, and details of social, political, and environmental issues. The book demonstrates how Indigenous peoples are not the perpetrators of environmental destruction but face the most harm from those actions taken by others. She also examines how ecocolonialism leads to ecological grief that goes beyond economic loss: suffering from relationships lost with plants and animals, spiritual loss of cultural keystone species with connections to deities, and the sorrow of forced diaspora and separation from ancestral lands in the face of ecological and economic collapse.
Dr. Hernandez makes clear how the layers of privilege are different based on location, showing the fallacy of the monolithic "Latinx" identity as seen by white people in the United States; this group encompasses many different racial categories affecting status in Latin America, and nationalism creates arbitrary lines of separation, as well. The author emphasizes how Indigenous and Black people are the hardest hit by any of these distinctions, targeted in genocidal civil wars, decimated by increasing natural disasters caused by climate change, and violently oppressed for agitating against governmental violation of their rights. The author also urges readers to take a holistic view and consider how language and gender affect the multifaceted experiences of Indigenous peoples. She specifically touches on the way patriarchy has harmed the traditional role of muxes in Zapotec communities, a third gender that is targeted by homophobia introduced by colonizers.
Several Western systems are analyzed as sources of Indigenous and environmental suffering. For one, the author addresses the hypocritical circularity of the US arming and training the military of El Salvador against its revolting citizens (largely Indigenous peoples) and then refusing and abusing refugees from that same crisis. She describes how corporations continue to engage in land grabs to grow crops for export and invest in tourism projects that romanticize Indigenous groups and their ancient histories while actively harming those same groups in the present.
Science, and academia in general, also receive insightful and hard-hitting criticism. Dr. Hernandez discusses how conservation as a scientific field needs to acknowledge how colonialism makes these practices necessary and how it still informs methodology. Instead, scientists often hide behind a false idea of science as objective and infallible. She calls out "helicopter research," whereby a white scientist travels to an impoverished country and removes data for publication without involving the local population or benefiting them in any way, speaking over their voices. Sometimes these researchers acquire Indigenous knowledge and then receive credit for the "discovery." It furthers colonialism to view Indigenous communities as passive subjects of research rather than actively seeking their leadership and taking on a background role to provide support.
I took so many notes reading this book. The roughest draft of this review was over twice as long. I've cut it down because A) no one needs to know that many of my thoughts and B) I don't mean to make this review a shortcut instead of reading the book in its entirety and learning from the author herself. I have a lot of personal reflection to do as someone who benefits from a lot of privilege in a settler colonialist society. I also have more focused concerns to consider as a science teacher and a teacher for immigrants from Central America. I need to ponder how I present science lessons to students and if I am providing space to listen to their knowledge and experience rather than glorifying a Western science model. I also need to act on the author's points about how teachers assume students from Central America speak Spanish, erasing Indigenous languages and throwing up an additional colonialist language barrier between the student and communication at school.
Dr. Hernandez makes clear how the layers of privilege are different based on location, showing the fallacy of the monolithic "Latinx" identity as seen by white people in the United States; this group encompasses many different racial categories affecting status in Latin America, and nationalism creates arbitrary lines of separation, as well. The author emphasizes how Indigenous and Black people are the hardest hit by any of these distinctions, targeted in genocidal civil wars, decimated by increasing natural disasters caused by climate change, and violently oppressed for agitating against governmental violation of their rights. The author also urges readers to take a holistic view and consider how language and gender affect the multifaceted experiences of Indigenous peoples. She specifically touches on the way patriarchy has harmed the traditional role of muxes in Zapotec communities, a third gender that is targeted by homophobia introduced by colonizers.
Several Western systems are analyzed as sources of Indigenous and environmental suffering. For one, the author addresses the hypocritical circularity of the US arming and training the military of El Salvador against its revolting citizens (largely Indigenous peoples) and then refusing and abusing refugees from that same crisis. She describes how corporations continue to engage in land grabs to grow crops for export and invest in tourism projects that romanticize Indigenous groups and their ancient histories while actively harming those same groups in the present.
Science, and academia in general, also receive insightful and hard-hitting criticism. Dr. Hernandez discusses how conservation as a scientific field needs to acknowledge how colonialism makes these practices necessary and how it still informs methodology. Instead, scientists often hide behind a false idea of science as objective and infallible. She calls out "helicopter research," whereby a white scientist travels to an impoverished country and removes data for publication without involving the local population or benefiting them in any way, speaking over their voices. Sometimes these researchers acquire Indigenous knowledge and then receive credit for the "discovery." It furthers colonialism to view Indigenous communities as passive subjects of research rather than actively seeking their leadership and taking on a background role to provide support.
I took so many notes reading this book. The roughest draft of this review was over twice as long. I've cut it down because A) no one needs to know that many of my thoughts and B) I don't mean to make this review a shortcut instead of reading the book in its entirety and learning from the author herself. I have a lot of personal reflection to do as someone who benefits from a lot of privilege in a settler colonialist society. I also have more focused concerns to consider as a science teacher and a teacher for immigrants from Central America. I need to ponder how I present science lessons to students and if I am providing space to listen to their knowledge and experience rather than glorifying a Western science model. I also need to act on the author's points about how teachers assume students from Central America speak Spanish, erasing Indigenous languages and throwing up an additional colonialist language barrier between the student and communication at school.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation and Grief
Moderate: Genocide, Racism, War, and Xenophobia
Minor: Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Sexism
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