Occidental's Community Book Program with Robin Wall Kimmerer

Registration for this virtual event is required, and is open to all Oxy community members. Register here

Braiding Sweetgrass, by Potawatomi professor Robin Wall Kimmerer, is about the role of Indigenous knowledge as an alternative or complementary approach to Western mainstream scientific methodologies. Braiding Sweetgrass explores reciprocal relationships between humans and the land, with a focus on the role of plants and botany in both Native American and Western traditions. The book received positive reviews, appearing on several bestseller lists including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

This audience Q & A will be moderated by Bryce Lewis-Smith ’20. Lewis-Smith is an Occidental alum, member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and participated in the Community Book Program panel earlier this year, entitled ‘Responsibility and Reciprocal Relationships with the Land: Indigenous Knowledge, Conservation, and Land Return’. He is an environmentalist at Better World Group with a passion for Tribal Sovereignty, environmental justice, and climate action. He recently graduated with his Masters in Marine and Environmental Affairs from the University of Washington and is a member of the Potawatomi Dreaming Collective which is working on reconnecting diasporic Citizen Potawatomi Nation Tribal members back with traditional Anishinaabe Aki, traditions, and ceremony. His research focuses on the interplay of kinship responsibilities and climate resiliency.

The Community Book Program promotes the mission of the College by empowering students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and other members of the broader Oxy community to experience the joy of reading and learning together.

Registration for this virtual event is required, and is open to all Oxy community members.

We will be collecting questions for the author in advance, using this form. Questions must be submitted by Monday, January 29.

The College will purchase an e-book for all students wishing to participate. The book is required Core Program Summer Reading for first-years. Students can contact communitybook@oxy.edu for more information.

You can purchase a copy of Braiding Sweetgrass here.