Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants

Author: Robin Wall Kimmerer 

Genre: Nonfiction, Ecology

Publication Date: 2013  

Introduction  

Braiding Sweetgrass, published in 2013, is a book-length essay that is part memoir and part manifesto. Author Robin Wall Kimmerer calls for the reconciliation of Indigenous wisdom traditions and modern empirical science in order to care for the planet. An environmental biologist and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Kimmerer cites examples from her own life story to show how these two seemingly disparate perspectives can be united. She suggests that the way forward lies in seeing nature with both reverence and clarity and in appreciating the land and water not just as resources but as gifts. Ultimately, Kimmerer expresses her hope that humankind will “become Indigenous” in the sense of treating Earth as a cherished home.