USA friends: If you’re planning on doing lots of reading this Thanksgiving break and would like to keep it thematic, may I recommend some of these books on Native American cultures and histories?
The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson (Dakota), 2021
Novel about generations of women and survival of family ties and the land. Fiction for people who enjoy Robin Wall Kimmerer
Rez Life by David Treuer (Ojibwe), 2013
Stark, fascinating, and humorous nonfiction that reads like a series of journalistic essays on sovereignty, natural resources, poverty, casinos, and culture.
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi), 2003
Noted Indigenous scientist and author in her earliest book for popular audiences. Science writing at its best - beautiful and regenerative, though not without acknowledgement of the destructive power of capitalism, colonization, unequal resource allocation, etc. I read it December 2024 and it was absolutely a balm during a really emotionally tough time. Her other books Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry are also great reads.
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal, 2024 (Note: not a Native author)
History of Indigenous nations in now-North America – I learned a lot about what was happening during the 12th-14th centuries, especially in the Southeast, and found it helpful that she brought in context from climate events, astronomy, and comparative societal structures around the world. The book overall aims to reframe European colonization and rule and argues persuasively that Native nations controlled relationships and land for much longer than Europeans claimed. It’s not comprehensive (I especially was disappointed in the lack of West Coast/Cascades region nations, but I can find more of that elsewhere) but coverage is really interesting and extensive.
There is an ancient conversation going on between mosses and rocks, poetry to be sure. About light and shadow and the drift of continents. This is what has been called the "dialect of moss on stone - an interface of immensity and minute ness, of past and present, softness and hardness, stillness and vibrancy, yin and yan.
—Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses
Gathering Moss : A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses - Robin Wall Kimmerer
Oregon State University, 2023. English.
★★★★★ (5/5)
This is, indeed, the book for animists.
Few and far between are books on natural history that really strike me, as an animist. The commentary on biology, ecosystems, and interconnectedness usually only swings one of two ways: either aggressively secular, or entirely unscientific. The former has its place, but the latter attempts to distill nature into something solely spiritual and intangible, when really, the majesty of it all is knowing that science and traditional ways of knowing can and should be combined for optimal effect - and no book details that fact better than Gathering Moss.
Even as a passionate animist and amateur herbalist, even as someone who takes great interest in all the plants around me, mosses are a topic I have been afraid to delve into. While I had always assumed their importance to be great, I knew them for little more than their roles in birds' nests and decomposition. Researching mosses, understanding who they are and what their purpose is, seemed too daunting of a subject to me, entirely too vast for somebody like me, who is not incredibly scientifically wired. This book revolutionized my understanding of mosses in every way. It does a phenomenal job of detailing how mosses function, and how their function affects their surroundings, how crucial they are. In this exploration of the great significance of mosses in their native environment, Kimmerer forces the reader to foster a growing emotional connection with mosses, cultivating a genuine sense of empathy between moss and man. Nothing could possibly have been a better introduction into the role of mosses in an ecosystem - something I had not anticipated to understand in any capacity at my young age.
Furthermore, Kimmerer does not neglect the 'cultural history' part of her subtitle. She does, in fact, delve deeply into the relationship mosses had, could have, and still do have with people. The intersectionality between her politics and her biological research is palpable and intoxicating, and though I have worked hard on cultivating a relationship with my land that reminds me there is nothing the grocery store could offer me that nature could not, Kimmerer does a phenomenal job reminding the reader of that fact.
But there is much more to this book than just mosses. The red thread that this entire book was built on is one of animism, of love for the land, of the ancestral knowledge that mankind is part of nature as much as anything else, and we ought to return to our reciprocal relationship with it. Through a 'moss-colored' lens, Kimmerer encourages the reader to explore their conflicting feelings about being part of nature, taking part in nature, and ultimately, our role in the destruction of nature.
It doesn't just address those living in rural environments, either. Kimmerer does an incredible job of including those in the city, and familiarizing them with their mosses, and the animism they could enjoy if they only went out and looked for it.
There are not a lot of things these days that every single human culture on earth shares, but one of those few things, is that we all, at one point, cohabitated harmoniously with nature. All of our ancestors, regardless of race, ethnicity, origin and location, at one point knew how to live alongside nature, who is not our neighbor, but our mother, in a way that was reciprocal, honest, and sustainable. When one wants to be reminded of that, and begin to understand the way they viewed their place in the world as animists as cohabitators, this is the book to read. There are no flaws, there is no exclusion. This is, truly, one of the books I say everybody needs to read.
The only thing I could possibly think of that could go wrong in recommending everybody on earth to read this book, is that some people do not have the tools nor frame of reference they need to understand where the border of cultural appropriation lies. Kimmerer is a Potawatomi woman, and her Native American practices are outlined in this book regularly. I feel that, in recommending this book to a community of spiritualists, pagans, witches folk practitioners and the like, it needs stressing to say that this book is not a guidebook to animism. While it introduces the themes of animism better than anything I have ever read before, whatever bits of culturally-specific practice and understanding are outlined should be treated with respect, and the reader owes it to themself and their practice to use what they've learned from this book and apply it practically. Learn about your ancestors, learn about your local plants, learn about how animism fits into your life. Do not take this book as a sign to start smudging with white sage, as some ill-informed readers might.
Take it instead as your sign to read up on your local invasive and endangered plants. Read about the way your culture has used those plants and similar plants. Be critical. Be respectful. The way forward is respectful cultural diversity, and you can participate in that diversity by honoring your own culture.
Over the summer this book has gone absolutely everywhere with me. Every word I have enjoyed. It was easy to understand and yet gave me much to ponder as I went about my life with the book in the back of my mind. Read it, for the love of moss.
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Mosses may lose up to 98% of their moisture & still survive to restore themselves when water is replenished. Even after forty years of dehydration mosses can be revived after a drink. Mosses have a covenant with change; they give me faith.
