Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science, The Kinship of Plants and People — Enrique Salmón –Timber Press — 978-1-60469-880-0 — Hardcover – $34.95 – ebook and audio book versions available at lower prices
This is a truly incredible and hugely inspiring book for me. Enrique Salmón, a member of the Raramuri tribe from Mexico, has spent a lifetime learning and studying the medicinal and cultural properties of North American plants. He now teaches at California State University-East Bay in Hayward, California. His work may place him in academia, but he is fully engaged in the natural world.
Salmon begins his work with the deeply held knowledge that all life-forms are interconnected and share the same breath, which is called Iwígara in the Raramuri tribe.
In this book, Salmón presents us with eighty of the most important plants used by North American indigenous peoples. Of course, plants have always been used as food and medicine by indigenous peoples. What is important knowledge for those who are interested in engaging with a plant centric life are the passed down information about identification and harvest, the nature and applications of plants for food and medicine, and to understand how they have been central to traditional stories and myths for the disparate cultures across this continent.
Salmón honors the traditions and practices of so many different tribes here, and helps us understand the variation across different biomes and cultures of the people who live in them. Some of us learn deeply in a specific place across long periods of time, while others may trade breadth for depth. Native peoples are among the former, but most modern people fall into the latter category. A book like this one helps bridge the two different approaches to knowledge. Salmón recognizes that tension, and manages it well here. He understands that one cannot live in deep connection to the natural world without choosing a place in which to live. But readers need to know where to begin, and this book can be an introduction for anyone who wants to begin their own journey of learning and knowledge about plants, healing and cultural traditions.
I should mention also that the book is beautifully designed and includes many excellent photographs and illustrations, most in color. It is excellent work, combining narrative with references suited to beginners and experienced naturalists alike.
Enrique is also the author of Eating the Landscape: American Indian Stories of Food, Identity, and Resilience (2012).
I was honored to have the opportunity to speak with Enrique Salmón for Writerscast about his work, and hope you will enjoy listening to a truly knowledgeable plant practitioner.
Purchase Iwígara from Bookshop.org
The post Enrique Salmón: Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science first appeared on WritersCast.Publishing Talks: Interview with George Slowik, Jr. of Publishers Weekly
Lan Samantha Chang: The Family Chao (A Novel)
William J. Peters: At Heaven’s Door-What Shared Journeys to the AfterLife Teach about Dying Well and Living Better
Peter Quinn: Banished Children of Eve: A Novel of Civil War New York
Geoff Rodkey: Lights Out in Lincolnwood (A Novel)
Publishing Talks: Interview with Jeff Deutsch of Seminary Co-op Bookstores
Publishing Talks: Interview with Ben Fox of Shepherd.com
Susanne Paola Antonetta: The Terrible Unlikelihood of Our Being Here
Nelson Johnson: Darrow’s Nightmare-The Forgotten Story of America’s Most Famous Trial Lawyer
Publishing Talks: Interview with Roxanne Coady of R.J. Julia Booksellers
Ross Benes – Rural Rebellion: How Nebraska Became a Republican Stronghold
Anders Dunker: Rediscovering Earth
Frank Figliuzzi: The FBI Way – Inside the Bureau’s Code of Excellence
Publishing Talks: Interview with Angus Yuen-Killick of Red Comet Press
Publishing Talks: Interview with Kyle Schlesinger of Cuneiform Press
Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics by Sydney Ladensohn Stern
Publishing Talks: Interview with Arthur Attwell
Surviving Genocide: Native Nations and the United States from the American Revolution to Bleeding Kansas: Jeffrey Ostler
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
A Tale of Two Cities
Anne of Green Gables
Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame