KU Catalog Search
All we need as students is mindfulness. Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and open heart. (pg. 222)
The Sound of Silverbells (pp. 216-222)
What's in a name?
- Tribal Nomenclature: What's in a Name? Reporting and Indigenous TerminologyNative American Journalist Association (NAJA) provides a terminology guide in their commitment to their mission to increase Indigenous representation in the media.
Dissertations/Thesis
Native Science
Native Science by
In Native Science, Gregory Cajete tells the story of Indigenous
science as a way of understanding, experiencing, and feeling the natural world. He points to
parallels and differences between the Indigenous science and Western science paradigms, with
special emphasis on environmental/ecological studies. After discussing philosophical foundations,
Cajete addresses such topics as history and myth, primal elements, social ecology, animals in myth
and reality, plants and human health, and cosmology and astronomy.In the Indigenous view, we
human observers are in no way separate from the world and its creatures and forces. Because all
creatures and forces are related and thus bear responsibility to and for one another, all are cocreators. Five centuries ago Europeans arrived on the American continent, but they did not listen to
the people who had lived for millennia in spiritual and physical harmony with this land. In a time of global environmental degradation, the science and worldview of the continent s First Peoples offer
perspectives that can help us work toward solutions.
Call Number: E59.S35 C35 2000Publication Date: 1999
Plant Technology of First Peoples in British Columbia by
“This excellent field guide to many plants native to British Columbia emphasizes the traditional technological uses of plant materials by the First Peoples of the region…. This well-organized, clearly written book contains a wealth of fascination information for both the ethnobotanist and the interested layperson.” – Nikki Tate-Stratton, Canadian Book Review Annual In her third ethnobotany handbook, Nancy Turner focuses on the plants that provided heat, shelter, transportation, clothing, tools, nets, ropes, containers—all the necessities of life for First Peoples. She describes more than 100 of these plants, their various uses and their importance in the material cultures of First Nations in British Columbia and adjacent lands in Washington, Alberta, Alaska and Montana. She also shows how First Peoples have used plant materials to make decorations, scents, cleaning agents, insect repellents, toys and many other items.
Call Number: E78.B9 T89 1998Publication Date: 1998
Ethnobiological Classification by
A founder of and leading thinker in the field of modern ethnobiology looks at the widespread regularities in the classification and naming of plants and animals among peoples of traditional, nonliterate societies--regularities that persist across local environments, cultures, societies, and languages. Brent Berlin maintains that these patterns can best be explained by the similarity of human beings' largely unconscious appreciation of the natural affinities among groupings of plants and animals: people recognize and name a grouping of organisms quite independently of its actual or potential usefulness or symbolic significance in human society. Berlin's claims challenge those anthropologists who see reality as a "set of culturally constructed, often unique and idiosyncratic images, little constrained by the parameters of an outside world." Part One of this wide-ranging work focuses primarily on the structure of ethnobiological classification inferred from an analysis of descriptions of individual systems. Part Two focuses on the underlying processes involved in the functioning and evolution of ethnobiological systems in general.
Call Number: GN468.4 .B47 1992ISBN: 0691094691Publication Date: 1992
Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact by
Vine Deloria, Jr., leading Native American scholar and author of the best-selling God is Red, addresses the conflict between mainstream scientific theory about our world and the ancestral worldview of Native Americans. Claiming that science has created a largely fictional scenario for American Indians in prehistoric North America, Deloria offers an alternative view of the continent's history as seen through the eyes and memories of Native Americans. Further, he warns future generations of scientists not to repeat the ethnocentric omissions and fallacies of the past by dismissing Native oral tradition as mere legends.
Call Number: E98.F6 D35 1995Publication Date: 1995
Biodiversity and Native America by
Exploring the relationship between Native Americans and the natural world, Biodiversity and Native America questions the widespread view that indigenous peoples had minimal ecological impact in North America. Introducing a variety of perspectives - ethnopharmacological, ethnographic, archaeological, and biological - this volume shows that Native Americans were active managers of natural ecological systems. The book covers groups from the sophisticated agriculturalists of the Mississippi River drainage region to the low-density hunter-gatherers of arid western North America.
This book allows readers to develop accurate restoration, management, and conservation models through a thorough knowledge of native peoples’ ecological history and dynamics. It also illustrates how indigenous peoples affected environmental patterns and processes, improving crop diversity and agricultural patterns.
Call Number: E98.B54 B56 2000Publication Date: 2000
All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life by
Written by a former Green Party vice-presidential candidate who was once listed among “America’s fifty most promising leaders under forty” by Time magazine, this thoughtful, in-depth account of Native struggles against environmental and cultural degradation features chapters on the Seminoles, the Anishinaabeg, the Innu, the Northern Cheyenne, and the Mohawks, among others. Filled with inspiring testimonies of struggles for survival, each page of this volume speaks forcefully for self-determination and community.
Call Number: eBookPublication Date: 2017
Ask a Librarian
We can help with your research questions -- contact us by chat, phone, email, text or at a Research Help desk.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Book Sources
The Mishomis Book: The Voice of the Ojibway
Ways to Read or Listen to the Book
eBook Copies
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Call Number: E98.P5 K56 2016Publication Date: 2021
Paper Copies
If you prefer a paper copy, that's an option! We will reach out later this summer to encourage students to request paper copies. If you are faculty or staff interested in including the book in your fall courses, please complete the form at: Get the Book
Streaming Audiobook from LPL
The Lawrence Public Library has the print book and unlimited access to the eAudiobook and eBook on Hoopla. Residents of Northeast Kansas are eligible for a free library card. For more information Get a Card.