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

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key ideas are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Part 1, Chapters 1-6

Reading Check

1. What does Skywoman bring with her from Skyworld?

2. In Chapter 3, where does Kimmerer say that strawberries and other revered plants are believed to have sprouted first?

4. In her discussion of camping with her family, what does Kimmerer say that the Algonquin word “Tahawus” refers to?

3. Roughly what percentage of Potawatomi words are verbs?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What does Kimmerer say is an important distinction between the messages about the natural world contained in the Skywoman story versus the Biblical story of Eden?

2. What peculiarity of pecan ripening does Kimmerer share, and what lesson does she draw from it?

3. What distinction does Kimmerer draw between gift-giving in the dominant culture and gift-giving among Indigenous peoples?

4. When Kimmerer began college, what did she initially find alienating about her study of botany?

Paired Resource

“How Indigenous ‘Traditional Ecological Knowledge’ Teaches Us to Live in Reciprocity with the Land”

• This 24-minute episode of the Life Examined podcast features a thoughtful interview with Seneca scholar Mishuana Goeman. (If time does not permit listening to the show, an abridged transcript appears on the page linked above.)
• This resource relates to themes of The Need for Reciprocity Between Humanity and Nature and The Intersection of Science and Spirituality.
• How do Goeman’s remarks about reciprocity compare to the ideas on this topic that you have read so far in Kimmerer’s book? What does he have to say about the role of spirituality in Indigenous ecology? How does this compare with Kimmerer’s ideas? What key idea about the relationship between human cultures and the land does Goeman advance in this interview? Based on your reading of Braiding Sweetgrass, how do you think Kimmerer would respond to this idea?

Part 2, Chapters 7-11

Reading Check

1. What is the name of the Anishinaabe “original man”?

2. From whose perspective is the chapter called “Witch Hazel” told?

3. In Chapter 9, what do Kimmerer’s daughters tell her that their new home in upstate New York must have?

4. In Chapter 11, what does Kimmerer’s daughter refuse to do in school?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What teaching from the “original man” stories does Kimmerer say is demonstrated in the way she and her daughters make maple syrup?

2. Why does it take Kimmerer 12 years to make the pond at her house “nearly swimmable”?

3. When Kimmerer is sad about her younger daughter leaving for college, what does she find when she returns home that cheers her up?

4. What values does Kimmerer think the Onondaga school’s “Thanksgiving Address” teaches?

Paired Resource

“For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet”

• In this accessible poem, celebrated Mvskoke (Creek) author Joy Harjo explores the importance of gratitude, respect, and personal investment in the world.
• This resource relates to themes of The Need for Reciprocity Between Humanity and Nature and Overconsumption as a Consequence of Modern Capitalism.
• What values does Harjo promote in this poem? What positive outcomes does she link to these values? Where in Kimmerer’s essays do you see these same values reflected?

Part 3, Chapters 12-17

Reading Check

1. What three plants are called the “Three Sisters”?

2. What is the name of the man who teaches the basket-making class?

3. What is the “Pompey Mall”?

4. What is the collective name for the traditional protocols about how much to harvest?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. In Chapter 12, what claim does the author make about love and gardens?

2. What lesson does the author use the Three Sisters to illustrate?

3. How did the author’s study contradict the fears of the basket makers about overharvesting?

4. How is the study on sweetgrass similar to the study on black ash populations?

Paired Resource

“The Food That Grows on Water”

• This 12-minute interview by Dan Wanschura with traditional Anishinaabe rice gatherers explores the cultural significance and environmental aspects of this practice. (Note: A transcript of this interview can also be found at the link above.)
• This resource relates to themes of The Need for Reciprocity Between Humanity and Nature, The Intersection of Science and Spirituality, and Overconsumption as a Consequence of Modern Capitalism.
• How do the ideas in this interview echo ideas from Chapters 12-17? Is the approach of these rice gatherers spiritual, scientific, or both? How have capitalist practices impacted wild rice populations historically, and how do they continue to impact wild rice?

Part 4, Chapters 18-25

Reading Check

1. To what biologist does Kimmerer compare Nanabozho in Chapter 18?

2. What gift do her students at Cranberry Lake Biological Station give Kimmerer?

3. In Chapter 21, what species’ decline does Kimmerer focus on?

4. What is Umbilicaria americana?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What song does Kimmerer hear her students singing, and how does it change her perception of them?

2. What are Tom Porter’s plans for the Mohawk River area?

3. What project did Franz Dolp begin, and why?

4. What does Kimmerer find herself wondering about the rain in the Andrews Experimental Forest?

Paired Resource

Fools and Dreamers: Regenerating a Native Forest by Happen Films

• This award-winning 30-minute film profiles the work of Hugh Wilson at New Zealand’s Hinewai Nature Reserve.
• This resource relates to themes of The Need for Reciprocity Between Humanity and Nature and Overconsumption as a Consequence of Modern Capitalism.
• Which traditionally Indigenous values does Hugh Wilson seem guided by in his work at Hinewai? Why did he face so much opposition when he began his work? How does his work at Hinewai contest values central to capitalism?

Part 5, Chapters 26-32

Reading Check

1. What kind of site exists today at Onondaga Lake?

2. In Chapter 28, what does the author say is “among our most potent tools for restoring the land as well as our relationship to land”?

3. What kind of creature does Kimmerer help cross the road in Chapter 29?

4. According to Kimmerer, what two things need to undergo changes if the “monster” of greed is to be defeated?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the lesson Kimmerer conveys by sharing the traditional monster story she talks about in Chapter 26?

2. What do the “fires” in Chapter 30 represent?

3. In Chapter 31, what upsetting thing does Kimmerer discover in the woods where she collects medicine?

4. In Chapter 32, why does the author compare the world to a traditional ceremonial giveaway?

Recommended Next Reads

Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez

• Zapotec and Maya Ch’orti’ author Hernandez explores how Indigenous environmental science can address the failures of Western conservation and bring an end to the eco-colonialism that threatens Indigenous and non-Indigenous societies alike.
• Shared themes include The Need for Reciprocity Between Humanity and Nature, The Intersection of Science and Spirituality, and Overconsumption as a Consequence of Modern Capitalism.
• Shared topics include environmentalism, the impact of Western culture on Indigenous resources, love for and interdependence with the natural world, the need to respect Indigenous knowledge, and the need to preserve Indigenous cultural practices.

Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence by Gregory Cajete

• Tewa scholar Gregory Cajete makes a case for Indigenous science, particularly in the areas of ecology and environmental studies, and for its potential to address today’s environmental problems.
• Shared themes include The Need for Reciprocity Between Humanity and Nature and The Intersection of Science and Spirituality.
• Shared topics include environmentalism, the impact of Western culture on Indigenous resources, lessons for human life contained in the natural world, the need to respect Indigenous knowledge, and the need to preserve Indigenous cultural practices.

Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World by Linda Hogan

• A lyrical collection of essays in which Chickasaw poet, novelist, and essayist Linda Hogan conveys her deep reverence for the natural world
• Shared themes include The Need for Reciprocity Between Humanity and Nature and The Intersection of Science and Spirituality.
• Shared topics include respect for Indigenous knowledge, love for and interdependence with the natural world, lessons for human life contained in the natural world, and the healing power of nature.