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Lanese , Nicoletta. Storytelling empowers indigenous people to conserve their environments. 27 Nov. 2017. Mongabay - News and Inspiration from Nature’s Front Li

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Authors Kimmerer and Momaday share an ontological argument that emphasizes kinship and interconnection between nature and humans, which they convey through indigenous themes of storytelling, cultural traditions, and language.

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Context - Scientific Knowledge as a Social Construct

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Context - Scientific Knowledge as a Social Construct

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Author Robin Wall Kimmerer, who is a botanist, writer, and a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, discusses through her writing the significance and relevance of nature within Indigenous culture in her work, “Skywoman Falling.” The “Skywoman Falling” story is an Indigenous creation, outlining the deep connection between nature and the cultural and spiritual identity of indigenous peoples. The story of the Skywoman is one of many creation stories that exist across cultures, demonstrating how scientific knowledge is a social construct. We don’t really know the knowledge of nature, as it is not communicating directly with us. While the scientific world is real, the way we observe it and think about it is based off of the pre-existing cultural notions that we establish (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, August 30, 2023). Therefore, by examining the popular Indigenous creation story of the Skywoman, we can begin to understand themes of kinship between nature and culture.

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The story of the Skywoman exemplifies a profound connection of indigenous cultures to the environment. Beginning with their origin story, indigenous cultures' view nature not as a separate entity, but as an integral part of their cultural identity, spirituality, and ethical framework. Throughout the story of the Skywoman, lessons of respect and reciprocity, the interconnectedness of all life, the role of stewardship, and more are conveyed to the reader. Given that this origin story was taught to children at a young age, it acted as fundamental guidance for children on how they should live their lives in harmony with nature. Kimmerer outlines just this thought in the text when she says, “Children hearing the Skywoman story from birth know in their bones the responsibility that flows between humans and the earth” (Kimmerer 5). Further, when the Skywoman fell from above, she brought “seeds of life” with her, and worked in harmony with the creatures around her to create “Turtle Island.” The text reads, “The land grew as she danced her thanks, from the dab of mud on Turtle’s back until the whole earth was made. Not by Skywoman alone, but from the alchemy of all the animals’ gifts coupled with her deep gratitude. Together they formed what we know today as Turtle Island, our home” (Kimmerer, 4). The notion expressed in the story, that woman and nature contributed together to create the Earth conveys that all living beings are part of a larger family, united by their shared existence on earth. As descendants of Skywoman, this story emphasizes that humans are not seen as separate or superior, but as members of a larger ecological community, fostering a sense of kinship with the natural world.

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Context - The Significance and Suppression of Indigenous Language

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Context - The Significance and Suppression of Indigenous Language

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Language plays an integral role in how we choose to interpret the world around us. Between the use of pronouns, personification, and rhetoric, the manner in which we both collectively and individually relate to the world around us emerges not just through stories, but also through language itself. Amongst the atrocities of the Indigenous dispossession in the 1800ds was the implementation of the boarding school system. After breaking up tribal land and forcing Natives out of their fertile land, the government forcibly removed native children from their homes to send them to American schools and camps. There, they were forced to speak English and punished for speaking their native language. These systems eliminated these children’s tribal languages and backgrounds in attempts to eradicate Indigenous culture. (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, September 13, 2023) Despite the eradication of the majority of indigenous peoples and languages, there is still a small population that remain living in the States, fighting to keep the language of their ancestors afloat; a language that surrounds itself around our relationship with each other and nature. Authors like Kimmerer write about how the interconnection between humans and nature is existent within native languages.

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Analysis - The Importance of "Animacy" in Grammar According to Kimmerer

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Analysis - The Importance of "Animacy" in Grammar According to Kimmerer

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Language changes the way we interpret the nature around us, and Kimmerer push this notion in her work, “The Grammar of Animacy.” This essay delves into the idea that the English language lacks a distinction between animate and inanimate entities, and that this can negatively affect our perception of the natural world. She goes on to discuss how the absence of animacy in English is related to cultural attitudes and behaviors towards the environment. For examples, she writes, “When we tell them that the tree is not a who but an it, we make that maple an object; we put a barrier between us, absolving ourselves of moral responsibility and opening the door to exploitation. Saying it makes a living land into “natural resources.” If a maple is an it, we can take up the chain saw. If a maple is a her, we think twice” (Kimmerer, 57).

Kimmerer’s emphasis on the linguistic distinction between referring to nature as “it” and “her” draws attention to how these linguistic differences shape our ethical and moral responsibilities to nature. When we refer a tree or any part of the environment as “her” or “who,” we imbue it with a sense of animacy and identity, compelling us to think twice before taking actions that harm them. The practice of removing Native American children from their homes and placing them in boarding schools, thereby suppressing, and erasing indigenous language altogether, contributed to the disconnection between humans and the environment and the loss of animacy and moral responsibility. Kimmerer wraps up her essay by saying, “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” (Kimmerer, 58). Recognizing the role of language in shaping these connections that Kimmerer references is essential for fostering a more respectful and sustainable relationship with the natural world that emphasizes moral responsibility through language alone.

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Context - Literary Environmentalism through Spirituality and Oral Tradition

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Context - Literary Environmentalism through Spirituality and Oral Tradition

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The concept of literary environmentalism is characterized by a tension between knowing nature through empirical findings, or through storytelling and cultural mediation (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, September 18, 2023). One of these contrasting approaches is evident through the writings of both Momaday and Kimmerer. Both authors recognize that nature is shaped and mediated by the stories that we tell about it and the cultural lens through which we view it. As the originator of the Native American Renaissance, N. Scott Momaday seeks to recuperate Native literary forms such as oral traditions in his works such as, “An American Land Ethic” (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, September 18, 2023). Similarly, Kimmerer represents the reality that Indigenous environmentalism is taught and perceived through oral traditions, and that Native knowledges of ecological relationships are not inherent, but culturally articulated over time (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, September 18, 2023).  Both the Skywoman and Momaday’s Sun Dance can be used to exemplify how Indigenous people narrate their connections to the land, plants, and animals to establish a kinship relationship between them.

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Analysis - Passing Down Values of Kinship and Interconnection

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Analysis - Passing Down Values of Kinship and Interconnection

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In “The Man Made of Words,” author, N. Scott Momaday introduced the Sun Dance, a predominant religious ceremony that took place among several Native American tribes, including the Kiowa. He explains that the Sun Dance is passed down through oral tradition, as it involves storytelling and reciting of sacred narratives. Momaday inserts a narrative of the Sun Dance, told by an elderly Kiowa woman by the name of Ko-Sahn. He writes, “The old woman had a bag full of earth on her back. It was a certain kind of sandy earth. That is what they must have in the lodge. The dancers must dance upon the sandy earth. The old woman held a digging tool in her hand. She turned towards the south and pointed with her lips. It was like a kiss, and she began to sing: We have brought the earth. Now it is time to play; As old as I am, I still have the feeling of play. That was the beginning of the Sun Dance” (Momaday, 43). Evident through Ko-Sahn’s description, the Sun Dance ceremony is practiced in a natural setting and involves respecting and using the land. These aspects of the ceremony, as told through stories, emphasizes the idea that nature is not just a backdrop, but a fundamental part of Indigenous spirituality. Kimmerer’s “Skywoman Falling” also articulates how storytelling pushes the notion of interconnection amongst nature and culture. On page seven of the text, Kimmerer writes, “The Skywoman story, shared by the original peoples throughout the Great Lakes, is a constant star in the constellation of teachings we call the Original Instructions…they are like a compass: they provide an orientation, but not a map” (Kimmerer, 7). The story of the Skywoman and the Sun Dance tradition push a notion of kinship and interconnection with nature by depicting the world as a web of interdependent relationships, by preserving this knowledge for future generations through the tradition of oral storytelling.

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Rubens, Peter Paul. The Fall of Man. 1628. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_and_Eve. Accessed 13 Oct. 2023. 

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Leading up to the early colonization of the America’s, the first of the five acts of wilderness remained a very influential factor when it came to western attitude towards nature. This act may be referred to as biblical fear. The notion of biblical fear was that wilderness was seen as something to be feared, rather than embraced. Because of this, it was often associated with the devil, disorder, and savagery (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, September 13, 2023). One major tangible manifestation of biblical fear was the creation story of Adam and Eve. Written in the book of Genesis, the story of Adam and Eve narrates the origin of humanity, where God placed both Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, instructing them not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. A second example of a creation story is the Skywoman in many Indigenous cultures. This creation story explains that the world was created by Skywoman falling from the sky and giving birth to all life on earth and living in harmony and reciprocity with all around her.

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Analysis - The Impact of Western Origin Stories on our Relationship with the Natural World

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Analysis - The Impact of Western Origin Stories on our Relationship with the Natural World

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The dichotomy of the two origin stories presented, both of the Skywoman and Adam and Eve, manifests in the treatment of nature by Western culture versus Indigenous. Kimmerer highlights this in many different points throughout her story, “Skywoman Falling.” When she asked her general ecology students to rate their knowledge of positive interactions between people and land, Kimmerer reported that the median response was “none.” Upon reading this she realized, “They could not even imagine what beneficial relations between their species and others might look like. How can we begin to move toward ecological and cultural sustainability if we cannot even imagine what the path feels like? If we can’t imagine the generosity of the geese? These students were not raised on the story of the Skywoman” (Kimmerer, 6). To her surprise, Kimmerer’s students, raised under Western cultural values, were unable to identify positive relationships between humans and nature. Why is this? Much of this lack of perceived interconnectivity stems from traditional Western origin stories and foundational culture. In her analysis, Kimmerer explains, “One story leads to the generous embrace of the living world, the other to banishment. One woman is our ancestral gardener, a cocreator of the good green world that would be throne to the home of her descendants. The other was an exile, just passing through an alien world on a rough road to her real home in heaven” (Kimmerer, 7). Not only does Kimmerer criticize the cultural aspect of how Western origin stories shape our perception of nature, but she criticizes the way in which these values and beliefs negatively manifest in our treatment of nature because of them.  Kimmerer writes, “Those measures for caring might not seem to fit in today’s urban world, where ‘green’ means an advertising slogan, not a meadow. The buffalo are gone, and the world has moved on. I can’t return salmon to the river, and my neighbors would raise the alarm if I set fire to my yard to produce pasture for elk” (Kimmerer, 8). The existence of biblical fear implemented through Western origin stories is criticized by authors such as Kimmerer and non-westerners alike, as they refer to the nature around us strictly as a pathway to heaven, disregarding our deep connections and obligations to it.

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Context - The Paradigms of Environmental Representation

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Context - The Paradigms of Environmental Representation

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The two paradigms of environmental representation present two different ways of viewing the relationship between nature and culture. The wilderness paradigm represents nature and culture as two separate spheres. Often associated with western culture, this sphere labels humans as both beneficiaries and enemies to an external environment (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, September 25, 2023). Inversely, the ecology paradigm represents nature and culture as permeable and interconnected, where humans are presented as a disruptive force, but still connected to each other (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, September 25, 2023). Many western cultures, whether consciously or subconsciously, still view nature as a separate sphere. Nature to them is the place “over there” that exists in its own sphere, unrelated to society. On the contrary, many indigenous cultures lived interconnected with nature. In their works “The American Land Ethic” and “Skywoman Falling”, both Momaday and Kimmerer share their perspectives of the relationship between humans and nature and emphasize how we are naturally connected.

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Analysis - How Momaday and Kimmerer Display our Interconnection with the World Around Us

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Analysis - How Momaday and Kimmerer Display our Interconnection with the World Around Us

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In the origin story of the Skywoman, the protagonist came down from the heavens with what the author refers to as “seeds of life,” allowing her to foster the expansion of nature and life to create the earth, or “Turtle Island.” While the Skywoman’s gift of life was a symbolic act of generosity, it was met with equal gifts from the nature around her. Kimmerer goes on to write, “Skywoman came here with nothing but a handful of seeds and the slimmest of instructions to ‘use your gifts and dreams for good,’ the same instructions we all carry. She accepted the gifts from the other beings with open hands and used them honorably” (Kimmerer, 8). This passage displays an interconnection between man and nature, as the Skywoman’s gifts of life were met with gifts from nature as well. This can be linked to an analogy for the interdependence present in today’s society, where just as we possess various means to contribute to nature, nature in turn offers us an array of essential resources for our existence. Similarly, in Momaday’s writing, he explains the interconnected relationship that Ko-Sahn, a Kiowa elder, has with the world around her. He writes, "This landscape, in which she had lived for a hundred years, was the common denominator of everything that she knew and would ever know – and her knowledge was profound. Her roots ran deep into the earth, and from those depths she drew strength enough to hold still against all the forces of chance and disorder. And she drew therefrom the sustenance of meaning and of mystery as well” (Momaday, 49). By including examples such as the Skywoman and indigenous elders like Ko-Sahn, Kimmerer and Momaday outline the ways in which Indigenous cultures and people perceived their relationship with the environment around them as interconnected.

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Dangers of the Ecological Indian Stereotype 

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Dangers of the Ecological Indian Stereotype 

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Within the nature writing genre, there are different ontological arguments that answer the question of what is the world, and how do we examine its existence? Both Kimmerer and Momaday view the relationship between the world and humans through a kinship sphere. They do this through storytelling itself. Within their works, they emphasize how the use of indigenous language, storytelling, emphasis of interconnection, and cultural practices can help outline our interconnection with nature. Given this, we must also beware of the “ecological Indian stereotype.” This false assumption stems from the romantic viewpoint that Native Americans are “pure” and part of the environment themselves (Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture, September 18, 2023). This assumption is highly dangerous, as the notion that Native Americans are part of the environment infers that they are less human than other cultures, and even that they’re closer to animals than humans. When examining the works of Kimmerer and Momaday, it's important to recognize that the use of storytelling, implementation of nature in Native practices, and overall knowledge of ecological relationships is not inherent. Rather, the interconnected relationship between Native Americans and nature is one that is culturally articulated over time through oral traditions, language, and cultural practices.

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Kimmerer, Robin Wall. “Learning the Grammar of Animacy.” Anthropology of Consciousness, vol. 28, no. 2, 2017, p. 128–, https://doi.org/10.1111/anoc.12081.

Lanese , Nicoletta. Storytelling empowers indigenous people to conserve their environments. 27 Nov. 2017. Mongabay - News and Inspiration from Nature’s Front Line, https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/storytelling-empowers-indigenous-people-to-conserve-their-environments/. Accessed 13 Oct. 2023.

Menrisky, Alexander. ENGL 2635E Lecture

Momaday, N. Scott. The Man Made of Words: Essays, Stories, Passages. New York, St. Martin's Griffin, 1998.

Quenzer, Marcine. Sky Woman. Journeying to the Goddess, https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fjourneyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com%2Ftag%2Fskywoman%2F&psig=AOvVaw0H5n0n43bbeaD0dJWWvChj&ust=1697327010878000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCJiiwv6Z9IEDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE. Accessed 13 Oct. 2023.

Rubens, Peter Paul. The Fall of Man. 1628. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_and_Eve. Accessed 13 Oct. 2023.