The Democracy of Species by Robin Wall Kimmerer

The Democracy of Species Reviews

• 
  Christina Dongowski

  This is a brilliant little book that all of you should read, especially if climate grief & anxiety and / or the pandemic really gets you down. Kimmerer acknowledges the mess we are in, without resorting to an anti-science & purely anti-western worldview. Instead she’s trying, in my opinion very convincingly, to weave together a scientific, materialistic and a more spiritual, holistic view of Natur & the environment and the place of humans in it. I liked it immensely.
• 
  Stephanie Jane

  See more of my book reviews on my
  vegan Ko-Fi
  
  Penguin's 'Green Ideas' series is a new publication of twenty short books each written by an eminent environmental thinker and focusing on different aspects of our planet's environmental crisis. I am grateful to Penguin for sending me review copies of five of these works and, on the strength of what I have read so far, I look forward to completing the set myself.
  
  Robin Wall Kimmerer's contribution to Penguin's Green Ideas series is her essay The Democracy of Species which, as I began to read it, I realised was already familiar to me. It is one of the chapters in her incredible book, Braiding Sweetgrass. If you haven't already read that tome then this little excerpt is an excellent introduction to Kimmerer's ideas and ways of viewing human relationships with the natural world. She focuses on how our language determines our attitude to the world around us, particularly contrasting the callousness of English against the inclusivity of her ancestral Native American language, Potawatomi. She also discusses the idea of the Honorable Harvest, a concept alien to Western thinking, in which one only takes as much as is needed rather than taking everything and then being surprised when nothing is left. In a week when the IPCC report declared Code Red for humanity almost entirely because of our voracious overconsumption of Earth's resources, The Democracy Of Species is a vitally important little book that everyone needs to read and act upon.
• 
  Steve

  Halfway through the Penguin Green Ideas collection ... but more on that below.
  
  A number of readers I trust have recommended Braiding Sweetgrass to me, but it hasn't (yet) percolated to the top of my list, so I was pleasantly surprised when this was the next (little) installment I pulled out of the (nicely packaged) Penguin series/collection box. A good sized chunk of this (again, little) book reprints content from Braiding Sweetgrass, but also includes a couple of other shorter pieces.
  
  I've read enough to see the attraction of the author's style and her larger message/worldview. I guess time will tell whether I eventually re-read this as part of the larger work. I also see why the book didn't appeal to everyone (but that does not in any way suggest criticism of the author or the content, and may or may not be perceived as a broader frustration with general closed-mindedness in the reading public (or, more broadly, the general population), but I digress). At the same time, this little volume felt more like a taste or a teaser than a unified whole.
  
  In any event, the pieces are repackaged/republished here as volume 10 in the Penguin Green Ideas collection, which I'm finding well worth the investment ... and the minor hassle of acquiring it... Sadly, as my local independent bookstore confirmed, it is not available for sale (in the slipcase collection) in the U.S. (but it's not that difficult to order it from a UK supplier).
• 
  Sarah

  Part of the Penguin series "Green Ideas" - a collection of 20 short books on the environment. Other authors with books in the series include
  Naomi Klein,
  Michael Pollan,
  Amitav Ghosh and
  Rachel Carson.
  
  I jumped at the chance to get an ARC of
  Robin Wall Kimmerer's book included in the collection. I've heard universally excellent things about
  Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, and thought this would be a good opportunity to sample her writing and ideas.
  
  The main focus of the book is how humans can work to have a more reciprocal relationship with the natural world -- think taking what you need in a conscious manner rather than endless exploitation. This idea is explored through the idea of the 'Honourable Harvest'. Kimmerer also reflects on her indigenous ancestry and their relationship with the world around them, and how language can shape our connections with plants and animals.
  
  A very enjoyable read. Recommended, and I'll definitely be checking out more books from the series.
  
  Thank you Netgalley and Penguin UK for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  A. _____

  And just like that, the world seems a little bit more alive. Fantastic. RTC.
  
  ---
  

  "[W]e are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude, to once again become cultures of reciprocity".

  
  In The Democracy of Species, Robin Wall Kimmerer tells us a story and teaches us a lesson. She tells us about learning Potawatomi, a language that should have been her first, but is now reduced to 9 native speakers and video lessons. She tells us the story of discovering this language and learning to see the world anew through it.
  
  Languages hold ideas and worldviews that shape our perspective in ways we cannot articulate or comprehend unless we are confronted by something outside of it. Kimmerer explores how the animacy of the natural world is built into Potawatomi; trees, rocks, rivers, animals and people are alive, have agency and value, and deserve respect. The natural world is not a collection of objects, nature is not an 'it', but a 'who'.
  
  Kimmerer asks us to imagine "the access we would have to different perspectives, the things we might see through other eyes, the wisdom that surrounds us" if we could learn this grammar of animacy.
  
  From this question, Kimmerer leads us deftly to one possibility--the Honourable Harvest, a collection of indigenous American principles and practices on sustainable land stewardship. This is the heart of the book--exploring the question of responsibility and reciprocity, the Honourable Harvest, and the idea of an equal relationship with the land rather than just taking.
  
  Kimmerer is a compelling writer and has a talent for showing perspective, for showing us the whys, hows and whats-nexts of looking at the world in a certain way. Through stories and myths, Kimmerer guides us toward an understanding of this new perspective. She takes from one step to the next, to ask
  

  "what is our responsibility is perhaps also to ask, What is our gift? And how shall we use it?"

  
  Though this story and lesson deal so much with loss, Kimmerer ends on a very positive, uplifting note. We still have agency, we still have gifts that we can use to mend our breaking world. This 96-page book has already opened my world a little, made it a little more alive.
  
  The Democracy of Species is a part of a 20 book collection from Penguin: Green Ideas, "the classics of the environmental movement". I will definitely be reading more books in the series.
  
  (I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)
• 
  Johan Gerhardsen

  In this thoughtful little book, Kimmerer, who is a scholar of indigenous knowledge and herself of indigenous descent, offers us her eye-opening perspectives on humans’ relationship to nature and nurturing. I particularly enjoyed her reflections around the Honorable Harvest; on how we should consider our harvests as an exchange between humans and nature, rather than as extractive actions with no limits. I also very much enjoyed her reflections on how Potawatomi, her indigenous language, inherently is closer to nature through the personification of natural objects. I think the perspectives she present is a valuable addition the current necessity of reconnecting with nature. Recommend ✨
• 
  Raven Bartlett

  loved this little book!! i read this in like 2 hours bc it is very short and forgot to update this - made me WEEP when talking about language loss etc. - these are included in braiding sweetgrass and for anyone who liked braiding sweetgrass i would recommend her other books too because braiding sweetgrass is like an intro and her other books i.e. gathering moss go into specific things more deeply !
• 
  Elsa Kivinen

  The main message of the book is good (reciprocity with nature’s ecosystems, as we are part of them) but even that is left quite superficial as the author tries to project relatability with the intended audience, or so it seemed to me when I was reading, especially the parts about consumption and going to a shopping mall with Honorable Harvest in mind.
  
  At the beginning of book, the thoughts about indigenous language preservation, linguistics, and learning to connect with one’s indigenous ancestry and what it can teach, were interesting and probably the most enjoyable and enlightening part of the book.
  
  However, the title of the booklet, “Democracy of Species” does not really describe the content, and a more appropriate name could have been something along the lines of “Reciprocity with the land” or something like that. Those who have read about indigenous land protectors, and social ecology and know more languages than just English probably don’t gain many new insights from this book, but maybe that is because the booklet might be intended for a more elementary and most likely very Anglophone audience?
• 
  Anne

  A sweet and lovely book on nature and humans relationship with it. The author touched upon how we should show gratitude towards the earth and how we have the responsibility to what we are taking from the land. Definitely left me wanting to explore more of her writing.
  Thank you Penguin press and Netgalley for the e-ARC.
• 
  Jennifer Westermann-Guild

  Although I did enjoy this short book, I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I not just read Braiding Sweetgrass (which is word for word was is in this book). A nice short version of that book for people who don’t won’t to read the whole thing.
• 
  Irthe

  Anything written by Robin Wall Kimmerer deserves to be plastered literally everywhere and I gently albeit slightly forcefully urge ANYONE and their mother to read her work.
• 
  Smita

  To start my 2022, this book is really remarkable. Such amazing essays that explores ecology, indigenous way of life and knowledge.
• 
  Lani

  Minus the notion that an animal can offer its life to a hunter…
  
• 
  Irene

  Word to the wise, this little book is an excerpt of three of the essays already included in
  Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. If I had known I wouldn't have bought a copy because I already owned it.
  
  As it is, these essays are some of the most engaging in the book, so if you want only a taste of what Robin Wall Kimmerer is about, it's a great place to start.
  
  The main conclusions I draw from her writings are that people are not removed from nature but part of the ecosystem, that we should only take what nature offers us and wild things should not be for sale, that language shapes how we relate to the world in the most fundamental ways, and that sometimes, things should be harder to do or to obtain if that means we're not destroying the planet. And above all, that, as individuals, it's not possible to escape the aspects of society we don't care for while still partaking in it, but there are some things we can all do to mitigate our unavoidable hypocrisy.
• 
  Ryan

  When I first found out about The Democracy of Species, I was thrilled to learn that Robin Wall Kimmerer had a new work out, no matter how brief. The library didn’t have it, nor was it available via interlibrary loan, which meant that no Kansas library had it either. In the end, my local library purchased it at my request (how great is that?), but in the meantime, I did some digging. It turns out this work is just one of 20 in a series published by Penguin UK (not in the U.S., of course) in late 2021 called Green Ideas that, according to its website, “brings you the classics of the environmental movement.” It goes on to state, “Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As humans have driven the living planet to the brink of collapse, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend it. Their words have endured, becoming the classics that define the environmental movement today. From art, literature, food and gardening, to technology, economics, politics and ethics, each of these short books deepens our sense of our place in nature; each is a seed from which a bold activism can grow. Together, they show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.” If there was ever a series crafted with me in mind, this is it. Though I purchased the set, the library copy of The Democracy of Species came in first, and so I started here, number 10 in the series.
  
  Imagine my wild excitement turn to mild disappointment when I learned that this is not a new work by Kimmerer but three excerpts from Braiding Sweetgrass, her 2013 masterpiece of ecological spiritualism. Still, it was a pleasure to revisit these pieces even if, on their own, they don’t quite add up to the larger work. And, as I imagine is the purpose behind Green Ideas, it is as good an introduction as any to Kimmerer, just a taste to see if it makes you hungry for more (hint: it should). The first chapter, “Learning the Grammar of Animacy,” gives birth to and explores the book’s title: “Maybe a grammar of animacy could lead us to whole new ways of living in the world, other species a sovereign people, a world with a democracy of species, not a tyranny of one — with moral responsibility to water and wolves, and with a legal system that recognizes the standing of other species.” The second chapter, “The Honorable Harvest,” explores, through traditional story and real-world examples, the rule of reciprocity that is the heart and soul of Braiding Sweetgrass. The third and final chapter, “People of Corn, People of Light,” takes the Mayan story of creation as not just history but as a lens through which we might understand our relationship with the earth, respectful and grateful for the world that sustains us, living with humility, recognizing that the world is a gift and responding accordingly, and understanding our own gifts as humans and realizing that a gift is also a responsibility. How will we use ours?
• 
  yk

  profound, enlightening, and oh so nurturing; i feel like my education in indigenous literature and ecocrit has been leading up to this gem of a book. kimmerer weaves science, language, and history together to make an argument for what boils down to the rules of The Honourable Harvest: “to give back, in reciprocity, for what we have been given… one of our responsibilities as human people is to find ways to enter into reciprocity with the more-than-human world.” been getting a lot of signs? proddings? signals? from the universe to be open to the integration of the arts and science recently and this feels very much like a breakthrough in the way i (to the best of my humanities-steeped brain) can really envision and understand how it’ll work in/for the world, and how conservation and honour actually looks like in the city and urban world.
  
  - “to be a hill, to be a sandy beach, to be a saturday, all are possible verbs in a world where everything is alive. water, land, and even a day, the language is a mirror for seeing the animacy of the world, the life that pulses through all things…”
  - “to become native to this place, if we are to survive here, and our neighbours too, our work is to learn to speak the grammar of animacy, so that we might truly be at home.”
  - “the Honourable Harvest is as much about the relationships as about the materials. // wild leeks and wild ideas are in jeopardy… we have to carry them across the wall, restoring the Honourable Harvest, bringing back the medicine.”
  - “what can humans do? we may not have wings or leaves, but we humans do have words. language is our gift and our responsibility. i’ve come to think of writing as an act of reciprocity with the living land. words to remember old stories, words to tell new ones, stories that bring science and spirit back together to nurture our becoming people made of corn (of obligate symbiosis).”
• 
  Lizzie

  It was beautiful of course it was. A lot of the stories were from her braiding sweetgrass book but this is like a nice lil 100page bite size version. It was good to read again because her words are so soft like a bath and her ideas are so important.
  
  "What can humans do? We may not have wings or leaves, but we humans do have words"
  "to be native to a place we must first learn to speak its language"
  
  I am going to probably butcher her ideas by summarising the first story 'Learning the grammar of animacy but I am going to try nonetheless.
  Its this idea that native languages are going extinct but where do those words go when no one can listen. when you cant have a simple translation to the english language. The english language is made up of nouns, with only 30% as verbs where as in Potawatomi language, 70% are verbs. This makes sense for english- derived from a culture so obsessed with things but in Potawatomi, so many things are verbs... to be a saturday, to be a bay. "A bay is only a noun if water is dead...... wiikwegamaa - to be a bay- releases the water from bondage and lets it live"
  Man i get emotional just writing about this. You wouldn't refer to your grandma as an 'it' as that is disrespectful. "so in Potawatomi and most other indigenous languages, we use the same words to address the living world as we do our family. Because they are family"
  English inherently disrespects the natural world, degrading it to 'natural resources' - shit we can exploit. but what if we gave the world animacy and treated it with respect. who is that tree rather than what is it.. "a world with a democracy of species not a tyranny of one - with moral responsibility to water and wolves, and with a legal system that recognises the standing of other species. Its all in the pronouns"
  AHHHHHHHHH Robin Wall Kimmerer is just such a queen
  the other stories are The Honourable Harvest and People of Corn, People of Light - both so beautiful absolutely read back through your highlights
• 
  Jon Zellweger

  Robin Wall Kimmerer feels like the other side of the same coin as Timothy Morton (Green Ideas #3). They both assert that the world around us is alive and acting upon us in ways western society has chosen to ignore. She achieves this by telling the story of her Native American tongue. Language shapes our perception the world; English is 70% nouns, while most of the ~350 indigenous languages of North America are 70% verbs. The world is described by actions. Material is recognized as choosing its manifestation (ie there are singular or compound words that mean things roughly like “water as a lake” or “earth as a mountain”). Why? Because there is no “it”. Everything is animated (except what is manmade). Lacking objectification, we act along WITH nonhuman entities, not ON them. Morton comes at this from a western philosophical perspective (and it’s quite brilliant too) breaking up a cultural entrenchment that is (at minimum) 400 years old. This is life lived based on reciprocity rather than taking and merely consuming. And it’s far more exciting when the rest of the material world has agency. Think of all the new friends and relationships to be had! The incredible cooperative potential. Democracy, connection, flourishing life for all.
• 
  Oktaria Asmarani

  I was hooked by the very first sentence of the book: "To be native to a place we must learn to speak its language." Who am I? Where am I? Do I belong to this place? Can I speak the language that it speaks?
  
  This book is short yet thought-provoking. It reminds me to be mindful of my own self and position, which will help me to listen more and learn how our surrounding speaks, how the language between us, the residents of this Earth, is present. It helps me to weigh how much enough is so I would only take what I really need. It alerts me of the gratitude towards life hence to find ways to enter into reciprocity with the more-than-human world; to give back with whichever way I could. It knocks my inner self that I unconsciously have been abandoned, to ask, "What is your gift? And how shall you use it?"
  
  The last page got me sobbing--a real cry. Although Kimmerer asks "What can humans do?" I feel like the question is there for me, so does the answer. "We may not have wings or leaves, but humans do have words. Language is our gift and our responsibility."
  
  What a powerful book to close the year. Like a gentle pat on my head convincing me that I am on my way to use the gift that I have, as best as I can. I am trying to listen and learn, to give.
• 
  B.S. Casey

  In The Democracy of Species, Kimmerer encourages a more symbiotic, respectful relationship with nature - with the animals we share our planet with, the trees and plants around us - to foster a more nurturing and sustainable world. She writes from ethical, ecological and spiritual viewpoints - beginning with the power of the language we use. Sharing her own experience of seeing her own native language and culture shrinking down to just a handful of people - she gives a valuable insight into their beliefs and their respect towards nature itself. In just three sections, this was not only beautiful writing but created a true sense of kinship with the world and the writer that we could all use in the fight against climate change.
  "We need acts of restoration, not only for polluted waters and degraded lands, but also for our relationship to the world."
• 
  Verity Halliday

  I thoroughly enjoyed this short, thought-provoking book.
  
  Robin Wall Kimmerer explores her indigenous ancestry and her people’s relationship with the natural world, and we can all learn from her discoveries. It seems vital to me that we need to live with humility and gratitude for the resources we take from the Earth to survive, being careful to take only what we need and ensuring the continuation of the species upon which we rely.
  
  I found it fascinating how the switch from English to the Potawatomi language altered the author’s perception of our environment, making it less “other” and more “us”. The world would be a better place if we all lived by the practice of the Honourable Harvest.
  
  Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.
• 
  Charlie St-St

  This is my favourite read of the Penguin 'Green Ideas' series so far. Kimmerer's writing is beautiful, and she completely brings the natural world to life - not an 'it', but a 'who'. As well as a novel insight to the relationship between indigenous language (such as Potawatomi) and the environment, this book taught me all about the Honourable Harvest and the different ways that can be done.
  Our relationship with nature doesn't have to be completely absent; it's more about building mutual respect and reciprocity.
  
  "Only take what is given. Never take more than you need." Many important lessons in this book. It's left me thinking.
• 
  Bethany Wolff

  A beautiful member of the Penguin Green Ideas collection; Kimmerer tells the story of the human and non human worlds from an Indigenous perspective. Her writing encourages us to use our collective human gift of words to tell stories about plants as an antithesis to the Western scientific worldview which often only gives a tiny fraction of the story.
• 
  Katie Mercer

  A quick read and I love everything that robin writes and produces. This is an excerpt from her original book braiding sweetgrass which has changed my life in so many ways. These excerpts and stories cover all the ways that we interact with nature and constantly make me reflect. I'm glad to have just a few little stories to carry with me throughout my days