When renowned biologist and Indigenous scholar Robin Wall Kimmerer wrote Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, she hoped to reach her scientist colleagues and students.
But when a shorter paperback version hit the New York Times bestseller list in 2020, she inspired people worldwide to rethink how they interact with nature and the world around them – including members of the Western and local community.
And when Kimmerer visited Western last week, it was an opportunity for all those touched by her work to share how they’ve been influenced through a number of events, organized through the collaborative efforts of the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, departments of geography and the environment and Earth sciences and Atlohsa Family Healing Services.
“We’ve wanted Robin Wall Kimmerer to visit for years,” said geography and environment chair and professor Katrina Moser, who, along with curriculum and pedagogy advisor Sara Mai Chitty and eLearning and curriculum specialist Beth Hundey, designed the award-winning course Connecting for Climate Change Action. “A large part of the inspiration for our course was Robin’s book and the idea of two-eyed seeing.The strength of braiding Western science and Indigenous knowledge together helps us make good decisions that leave Earth in a better place for future generations.”
Braiding Sweetgrass is also required reading for A Field Course in Land Healing and Responsibility/Community-Based Research in Indigenous Studies, taught by Earth sciences professor and chair Desmond Moser and Indigenous studies instructor Clint Jacobs, an Anishinaabe from Bkejwanong (Walpole Island First Nation). The course immerses students in Indigenous perspectives on reciprocity, restoration and invasive species remediation, as they take responsibility for the land they are learning on.
Sharing and showing gratitude
Robin Wall Kimmerer (Christopher Kindratsky/Western Communications)
Kimmerer’s impact on the Western community deepened as she engaged with staff, students, faculty and community members throughout her visit.
She was honoured at a harvest lunch hosted by the Office of Indigenous Initiatives at the Wampum Learning Lodge, where a moss wall reflects teachings from her first book, Gathering Moss.
Chitty led a discussion in which members of the Western community and representatives from local organizations shared how Kimmerer’s work touched their lives.
“We wanted to show her the impact her work has had on the people in this region, at Western and beyond, and give something back to her for so freely giving her knowledge, gifts and stories,” Chitty said.
Kimmerer was also gifted with a quill medallion, crafted by master of professional education student Sophie Solares (Aamjiwnaang First Nation). The medallion features asters and goldenrod, the flowers whose beauty inspired Kimmerer to pursue a degree in botany, and, when grown together, attract more pollinator visits than when grown alone.
During her visit, Kimmerer, a decorated professor and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, delivered a distinguished lecture sponsored by Western and Atlohsa.
She also visited the field site of Moser’s and Jacobs’ course at Spencer Tract, behind the Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre. There, she learned more about the class and joined the students, planting native grasses. Working alongside Kimmerer, fourth-year psychology and Indigenous studies student Keiran Tellers saw her teachings come to life.
“You could tell the way she interacted with the plants, she was living her words, telling her story as she handled the rhizomes, helping them,” Tellers said. “It made me think of her telling of the three sisters, working above and below the ground to help each other.”
Dina Dwairi, a third-year environmental science student, called Kimmerer’s class visit “a dream come true.”
“She’s such an inspiration because she is a woman of tradition and science, and I share that experience as well. To see her in person and watch her walk around and be with the plants, just as she describes in her books, was so lovely.”
Jacobs, the instructor, called the opportunity to engage with Kimmerer “magical.”
“Her words inspire me and remind me to remember what my grandparents and parents taught me about the land,” he said. “I hope by sharing her ideas with students as a way to understand our responsibilities to do what we can to heal the land, they’ll step forward to do what they can here, and in their own backyards.”
Kimmerer said watching students at Western and other schools taking action to heal the land “gives her hope.”
“It’s so gratifying to see this living, not on the page, but on the ground with shovels, helping our plant relatives do their work. This is Braiding Sweetgrass in action.”
***
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, plant ecologist, writer and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York. Learn more.
