Discussion Group
Fall 2021 Virtual Discussion Group: Plants, People, and the Humanities
To register your interest in the group, please click here.
In Fall 2021, to accompany our Plants, People, and the Humanities event series, the HLSS discussion group will be reading chapters from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s books: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (2013) and Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses (2003). Electronic editions of her books are available through the TAMU library.
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, December 14, 12:30-1:30pm via Zoom. We will be reading “Burning Sweetgrass” and “Epilogue: Returning the Gift” (pp. 301-384) in Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (2013). The book is available as an electronic edition through the TAMU main library.
Meeting ID: 964 8290 2394
Passcode: 787630
Zoom link
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, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing, and her other work has appeared in Orion, Whole Terrain, and numerous scientific journals. She tours widely and has been featured on NPR’s On Being with Krista Tippett and in 2015 addressed the general assembly of the United Nations on the topic of “Healing Our Relationship with Nature.” Kimmerer is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability.”
“Celebrating Old Growth“
You might be interested in viewing the discussion hosted by Yale Forest Forum: “Celebrating Old Growth: A Conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer, Robert Macfarlane, and David Haskell”
Past Discussions
Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 2020
4:00-5:00 pm (CST), via Zoom
HLSS Discussion Group on Covid-19 and the Environment
Here are a few materials to serve as the basis of our discussion. These short pieces form just a small set of ever-growing responses to environmental, animal welfare, and other issues in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On human-wildlife interactions, environment, climate change:
- An article from Society and Space, by a political ecologist: China’s Global Reach: Urban Social Lives of the More-than-Human
- A statement on World Health Day from the UN Biodiversity Convention
- A more historical view: Spillover Warning: How We Can Prevent the Next Pandemic
- An open letter to WHO from wildlife organizations
- A short piece by the head of UNEP
On air pollution:
On sound and the environment:
From Bruno Latour: “A little exercise to make sure that, after the virus crisis, things don’t start again as they were before”
Wednesday October 23rd, 2019
12:30PM – 2:00PM
Glasscock 311
HLSS Discussion Group: Oceanic Humanities Readings
Readings for this meeting are by our two keynote speakers for the Oceanic Humanities symposium. Rozwadowski’s 2018 book is available in the library, and further publications can be found here http://fathomingtheocean.com/articles/
Click here to download the reading sample from Rozwadowski.
Click here to download the reading sample from Winkiel.