Braiding Sweetgrass

Science and nature

First published: 2013
Print length: 400 pagesPenguin Books, 2020

Description

Robin Wall Kimmerer brings together her work as a botanist, her Potawatomi identity, and her personal return to cultural traditions in essays about reciprocal relationships between people and the land. Organized through the stages of planting, tending, picking, braiding, and burning sweetgrass, the book moves between scientific observation, Indigenous knowledge, family experience, and the Skywoman creation story. Squash, algae, goldenrod, pecans, and sweetgrass become participants in inquiries about gratitude, responsibility, and what humans owe the living world. Kimmerer argues that Western science and Indigenous ways of knowing need not be rivals; together, they can support a more just and joyful relationship with Earth. The essays ask readers to replace the language of natural resources with practices of attention, gift, and reciprocity.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Descriptive · Essayistic · Lyrical

Pace

Measured

Tone

Hopeful · Philosophical · Reflective · Warm

Structure

Braided

Focus

Ideas · Information · Voice

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 3 / 5
Ideas: 4 / 5
Structure: 3 / 5
Background knowledge: 2 / 5

Themes

CommunityFamilyIdentityKnowledge and truthNature and environmentReligion and faith

About Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Potawatomi botanist and author whose essays bring Western science into conversation with Indigenous environmental knowledge. Formerly director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at SUNY-ESF, she writes from the combined perspectives of scientist, teacher, and Native American. Her method joins close observation and scientific explanation with cultural tradition, personal experience, and ethical reflection. Gathering Moss enters the intricate habitats formed by small plants, while Braiding Sweetgrass ranges more broadly across family life, creation stories, botany, and relations with the land. Throughout, Kimmerer treats knowledge as inseparable from responsibility, asking what reciprocal relationships with the living world require of people.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Penguin Books
Language: English
ISBN: 9780141991955

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