Fresh Banana Leaves
Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science
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3.8 • 11 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist in Science & Technology
An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn't working--and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors.
Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as "soft"--the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization.
Here, Jessica Hernandez--Maya Ch'orti' and Zapotec environmental scientist and founder of environmental agency Piña Soul--introduces and contextualizes Indigenous environmental knowledge and proposes a vision of land stewardship that heals rather than displaces, that generates rather than destroys. She breaks down the failures of western-defined conservatism and shares alternatives, citing the restoration work of urban Indigenous people in Seattle; her family's fight against ecoterrorism in Latin America; and holistic land management approaches of Indigenous groups across the continent.
Through case studies, historical overviews, and stories that center the voices and lived experiences of Indigenous Latin American women and land protectors, Hernandez makes the case that if we're to recover the health of our planet--for everyone--we need to stop the eco-colonialism ravaging Indigenous lands and restore our relationship with Earth to one of harmony and respect.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Environmental scientist and activist Hernandez, who is Zapotec and Maya Ch'orti', debuts with a passionate if jumbled look at the intersection of environmental justice, racism, and conservationism. She argues that "mostly white cisgender men" are managing Indigenous lands through systemic "ecocolonialism" that has harmed Indigenous peoples and led to environmental damage, and they've failed to acknowledge the "ecological grief" they've caused. Westerners, she writes, fall short on including Indigenous people in environmental dialogues and deny them the social and economic resources necessary to recover from "land theft, cultural loss, and genocide" and to prepare for the future effects of climate change. She argues vehemently against national parks ("Yellowstone not only marked the forced removal of Indigenous peoples, it also celebrated the genocide enacted against Indigenous peoples during these times") and such organizations as the Sierra Club ("Why is the face of conservation still white men?"), describes the racial and gender discrimination she faced as a student, gives short histories on Indigenous resistance movements in Central America, discusses women-led artisan collectives, and reveals her own family history. It's a moving lay of the land, but one prone to sidetracking without charting a way forward. The survey has potential, but it doesn't quite come together.
Customer Reviews
The author completely rejects Western knowledge.
The author believes that Indigenous people should have the right to reclaim and manage their old lands. As an American citizen, I can’t say I find the idea very appealing. I certainly don’t want to see cities like Miami demolished and turned into small holder farms, which appears to be her desire. Nonetheless it is hard not to sympathize with her and her father, who was badly mistreated during the war that engulfed his native El Salvador during his childhood. Despite a life in United States academia, the author seems to have little use for the scientific method or anything but her childhood philosophy and dreams. She also does not seem to trust Americans, or those who read this book, since she describes remarkably little about the philosophy she advocates. She says that indigenous knowledge is frequently “stolen” by the west, and clearly doesn’t want to make that mistake again. “Trust us, we’re indigenous and care deeply about the land” is her sales pitch. I bought this book due to a curiosity about Indigenous methods, but found precious little but a clear sense of loathing towards anyone involved in “settler colonialism”, including Americans. Her main argument is that Indigenous people are deeply involved in the land and know everything about it in a holistic way, while scientists ignore their knowledge and use their own methods. How that works in practice is best left as an exercise for the reader. For a stronger expression of her arguments, I recommend “Seeing like a state” by James C Scott for a very similar argument without the anti-West loathing that made this book very difficult for me to read.
Would be great with a different editor
I really wanted to love this book. Dr. Hernandez makes a lot of really necessary and timely arguments about the need to decolonize academia and the sciences, but largely she makes them really ineffectively. Throughout the book, excessive repetition is used to make a point when data or compelling anecdotes would be more convincing. I agree with the premises of this book 100% but I didn’t learn much from it and I don’t see anyone not already on board with her ideas getting much from this. I hope Dr. Hernandez writes again but with a more competent editor.
Climate justice is racial justice, can’t have one without the other!
I really appreciated her explanation of settler colonialism across the Americas (things I didn’t even know about as an American), and why it is so very crucial to acknowledge this often ignored fact about our climate crisis. Hernandez has a way of putting into words the lived experiences of Indigenous folks across the Americas in ways that I really applaud, as someone often at a loss for words when speaking to systemic issues. If anything, she sometimes over-explains certain concepts, bordering on redundancy. But as we know, redundancy is often a necessary defense against certain folks with a history of selective hearing. I’m looking at the other reviewer who gave 3 stars because “she doesn’t like Americans”. You can’t say you want indigenous perspectives on climate change and then try to police what they have to say. If you want the Truth, you gotta be ready to take it with straight with no chaser. Hernandez completely puts aside the expectation that she should please white fragility with her words, and in my opinion that choice is what makes it such an important book!
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