Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Auteur: Robin Wall Kimmerer

Jaar: 2020

Druk: niet vermeld.

ISBN: 9780141991955 / 014199195X

Taal: Engels

390 pagina's

Uitgeverij: Penguin Books

Paperback, nieuw.

Samenvatting:

Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two ways of knowledge together. Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings - asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass - offer us gifts and lessons, even if we've forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

'An extraordinary book, showing how the factual, objective approach of science can be enriched by the ancient knowledge of the indigenous people. It is the way she captures beauty that I love the most - The images will stay with you long after you read the last page.' - Jane Goodall

'A writer of rare grace. In Braiding Sweetgrass, she takes us on a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise. A hymn of love to the world.' - Elizabeth Gilbert.

'Robin Wall Kimmerer, who has written beautifully about the art of attentiveness to life at all scales, examines the revelations of the garden in Braiding Sweetgrass, an unusual and richly rewarding book blending botany, Native American mythology, natural history, and philosophy'. - Maria Popova, Brainpickings.