Robin Wall Kimmerer
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Robin Wall Kimmerer (born September 13, 1953) is a
Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...
botanist, author, and the director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
(SUNY-ESF). As a scientist and a Native American, Kimmerer is informed in her work by both Western science and Indigenous environmental knowledge. Kimmerer has written numerous scientific articles and the books ''Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses'' (2003), '' Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants '' (2013), ''The Democracy of Species'' (2021) and ''The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World'' (2024). She narrated an audiobook version of ''Braiding Sweetgrass'', released in 2016. ''Braiding Sweetgrass'' was republished in 2020 with a new introduction.


Early life and education

Robin Wall Kimmerer was born in 1953 in
upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...
to Robert and Patricia Wall. Her enthusiasm for the environment was encouraged by her parents and her time outdoors inspired a deep appreciation for the natural environment. Kimmerer is an enrolled citizen of the
Citizen Potawatomi Nation Citizen Potawatomi Nation is a federally recognized tribe of Potawatomi people located in Oklahoma. The Potawatomi are traditionally an Algonquian languages, Algonquian-speaking Eastern Woodlands tribes, Eastern Woodlands tribe. They have 29,155 e ...
. Kimmerer remained near home for college, attending
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...
and receiving a
bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
in 1975. She spent two years working for
Bausch & Lomb Bausch & Lomb (since 2010 stylized as Bausch + Lomb) is an American-Canadian eye health products company based in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of contact lenses, lens care products, pharmaceuticals, intra ...
as a microbiologist. Kimmerer then moved to
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
to attend the
University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
, earning her master's degree in botany there in 1979, followed by her
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in
plant ecology Plant ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology that studies the distribution and abundance (ecology), abundance of plants, the effects of environmental factors upon the abundance of plants, and the interactions among plants and between plants and ...
in 1983. It was while studying forest ecology as part of her degree program that she first learnt about
moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...
es, which became the scientific focus of her career.


Career

From Wisconsin, Kimmerer moved to
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
, where she briefly taught at
Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was founded in 1780 and is the oldest university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is Higher educ ...
in Lexington, before moving to
Danville, Kentucky Danville is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city and the county seat of Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micr ...
, where she taught
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
, botany, and ecology at
Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...
. Kimmerer received tenure at Centre College. In 1993, Kimmerer returned home to upstate New York and her alma mater, ESF, where she currently teaches. Kimmerer teaches in the Environmental and Forest Biology Department at ESF. She teaches courses on land and culture, traditional ecological knowledge, ethnobotany, ecology of mosses, disturbance ecology, and general botany. She is the director of the newly established Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at ESF, which is part of her work to provide programs that allow for greater access for Indigenous students to study environmental science, and for science to benefit from the wisdom of Native philosophy to reach the common goal of sustainability. Kimmerer is a proponent of the
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is a cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans ...
(TEK) approach, which she describes as a "way of knowing". TEK is an empirical approach based on long-term observation and relationship. The approach also involves cultural and spiritual considerations, often marginalized by the Western scientific community. As a botanist trained and published in Western science, she has high regard for both worldviews and their distinct practices. "Two-eyed seeing" is how she portrays the utilization of both. She also speaks in favor of communication modes unique to each of the two realms. As a university professor, academic papers were essential in the early part of her career. In her elder years she exemplifies the power of orally presented Indigenous stories for an outcome that science makes no attempt to achieve: conveyance and indirect advocacy of values. Kimmerer's efforts are motivated in part by her family history. Her paternal grandfather, also a Citizen Potawatomi, received an assimilationist education at the
Carlisle Indian Industrial School The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from its founding in 1879 to 1918. It was based in the histo ...
in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census ...
. The school was one of the first
American Indian boarding schools American Indian boarding schools, also known more recently as American Indian residential schools, were established in the United States from the mid-17th to the early 20th centuries with a main primary objective of " civilizing" or assimila ...
, which set out to "civilize" Native children, forbidding residents from speaking their language and effectively erasing their Native culture. Knowing how important it is to maintain the
Potawatomi language Potawatomi (, also spelled Pottawatomie; in Potawatomi , , or ) is a Central Algonquian languages, Central Algonquian languages, Algonquian language. It was historically spoken by the Potawatomi, Pottawatomi people who lived around the Great Lake ...
, Kimmerer took Potawatomi language classes to learn how to speak it because "when a language dies, so much more than words are lost". Her current work spans traditional ecological knowledge, moss ecology, outreach to Indigenous communities, and creative writing.


Professional service

Kimmerer has helped sponsor the Undergraduate Mentoring in Environmental Biology (UMEB) project, which pairs students of color with faculty members in the enviro-bio sciences while they work together to research environmental biology. Kimmerer is also a part of the
United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...
's Higher Education Multicultural Scholars Program. The program provides students with real-world experiences that involve complex problem-solving. Kimmerer is also involved in the
American Indian Science and Engineering Society The American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit professional association with the goal of substantially increasing American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, First Nation and other ...
(AISES), and works with the
Onondaga Nation The Onondaga people (Onontaerrhonon, Onondaga: , "People of the Hills") are one of the five original nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy in the Northeastern Woodlands. Their historical homelands are in and around present-day Ono ...
's school doing community outreach. Kimmerer also uses traditional knowledge and science collectively for
ecological restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...
in research. She has served on the advisory board of the Strategies for Ecology Education, Development and Sustainability (SEEDS) program, a program to increase the number of minority ecologists. Kimmerer is also the former chair of the
Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Section. In April 2015, Kimmerer was invited to participate as a panelist at a
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
plenary meeting to discuss how harmony with nature can help to conserve and sustainably use natural resources, titled "Harmony with Nature: Towards achieving sustainable development goals including addressing climate change in the post-2015 Development Agenda".


Honors and awards

Kimmerer received the
John Burroughs Medal The John Burroughs Medal, named for nature writer John Burroughs (1837–1921), is awarded each year in April by the John Burroughs Association to the author of a book that the association has judged to be distinguished in the field of natural hist ...
Award for her book, ''Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses''. Her first book, it incorporated her experience as a plant ecologist and her understanding of traditional knowledge about nature. Her second book, ''Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants'', received the 2014 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award. ''Braiding Sweetgrass'' is about the interdependence of people and the natural world, primarily the plant world. She won a second Burroughs award for an essay, "Council of the Pecans", that appeared in ''Orion'' magazine in 2013. Within ten years of its publication, more than two million copies had been sold worldwide. Kimmerer received an honorary M.Phil. degree in Human Ecology from
College of the Atlantic College of the Atlantic (COA) is a private liberal arts college in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Founded in 1969, it awards bachelors and masters ( M.Phil.) degrees solely in the field of human ecology, an interdisciplinary approa ...
on June 6, 2020. In 2022, Kimmerer was awarded a
MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...
. In 2025 she was included on the
Time 100 ''Time'' 100 is a list of the top 100 most influential people, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, politicians, and journalists, the list is now a highly ...
list of influential people.


Books

* ''Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses'' (Oregon State University Press, 2003) . * '' Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants'' (Milkweed Editions, 2013) . * '' The Serviceberry'' (Scribner, November 19, 2024)


References


Sources

* History. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2021, from https://www.pokagonband-nsn.gov/our-culture/history * Potawatomi history. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2021, from https://www.mpm.edu/content/wirp/ICW-152 * Sultzman, L. (December 18, 1998). Potawatomi History. Retrieved April 6, 2021, from http://www.tolatsga.org/pota.html * CPN Public Information Office (November 3, 2015)
"Q & A With Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ph.D."
Citizen Potawatomi Nation.


Further reading

* * Pember, Mary Annette (22 February 2007)
"Another Frame of Mind"
In ''Diverse: Issues in Higher Education''. * Tompkins, Joshua (30 November 2004)

''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. * Wall Kimmerer, Robin (October 2022)
"Serviceberry"
''Emergence Magazine''.


External links


Robin Wall Kimmerer Official Website

Ecologists Directory
* Leadership Initiative for Minority Female Environmental Faculty (LIMFEF

* May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society Podcast featurin
Kimmerer reading a poem
February 11, 2007 * Interview on podcast
"Ologies with Alie Ward"Conversation
between Kimmerer and artist Olivia Whetung, hosted by the Campbell River Art Gallery, November 18, 2020 * RealScience.org
Threatened Plants
* Robin Wall Kimmerer'
SUNY-ESF Faculty PageSEEDS
* SUNY-ES

.
Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

Whole Terrain
link to Kimmerer articles published in '' Whole Terrain''
Women Transcending Boundaries

"Weaving Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Biological Education: A Call to Action"
Oxford Journal, ''
BioScience ''BioScience'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal that is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. It was established in 1964 and was preceded by the ''AIBS Bulletin'' (1951–1 ...
'', Volume 52, Issue 5, pp. 432–438 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kimmerer, Robin Wall 1953 births 20th-century Native American women 20th-century Native American people 21st-century American women writers 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native American writers American environmentalists American naturalists American non-fiction environmental writers American women academics American women botanists Centre College faculty Citizen Potawatomi Nation people John Burroughs Medal recipients Living people Native American academics Native American environmentalists Native American women academics Native American women writers Plant ecologists Scientists from New York (state) State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry alumni State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni MacArthur Fellows