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Robin Wall Kimmerer

Biography

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, professor and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller BRAIDING SWEETGRASS: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, as well as GATHERING MOSS: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses and THE SERVICEBERRY: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. Kimmerer is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Books by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
written by Robin Wall Kimmerer, illustrated by John Burgoyne - Nature, Nonfiction

As Indigenous scientist and author of BRAIDING SWEETGRASS Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love. Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth --- its abundance of sweet, juicy berries --- to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival.