1

Peace through Disorder: Learning from the Three Sisters

Each quarter, a group of students, faculty, and staff at WWU convene an environmental justice reading group to read and discuss recent texts. This quarter (Fall 2019) the group is reading Robin Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. The following entry reflects the group’s discussion last week.

Peace through Disorder: Learning from the Three Sisters

By: Max Alexandria Boock

If you have ever worked in a garden you understand that it is not an orderly endeavor. Even if you have gloves, you will inevitably find dirt encrusted under your fingertips the next day. You will go home with dirt and mud and plant debris on your shoes and clothes, and you’ll perhaps smell the decaying matter and organisms when you finally pull them out again to do your laundry. It is a reminder that the earth is alive – and we can’t forget about it.Humans have a tendency to prefer order. The earth prefers chaos. Entropy is earth’s tendency to naturally decline into disorder, or chaos. While this is a more commonly understood concept in physics and chemistry, entropy is interwoven throughout all of earth’s systems. How do humans fit into this disorderly system? We like to clean things up and place concepts into neat little boxes. We categorize and classify in an attempt to conceptualize abstract ideas. This Western perspective is constraining and fails to recognize the complexity of earth and society. If we can expand our understanding to appreciate chaos and disorder, perhaps we will be able to more aptly put together solutions for the future.

In this section of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass, our class discussed the three sisters, a trio of crops that indigenous people have relied on for centuries due to their intrinsic relationship. The corn – which grows tall and sturdy – provides room for the bean – which rises and twines around the stalk and fixes nitrogen back into the ground for healthy soil – provide shade for the squash – which twists over the ground and chokes back any weeds that could threaten her sisters. While to an outsider or Western perspective, growing these three plants together may seem disorderly, the indigenous person understands that each provides something for the other. Western culture should embrace more complex processes that mimic natural ecosystems.

Perhaps Western society could be positively influenced if we grew to be more connected with the land we occupy. Kimmerer talks about becoming indigenous to a place. It can be difficult for immigrant communities to find a sense of place in land they are new to, but it is not impossible. Our class theorizes that if Western immigrants (white colonists) developed a deeper relationship with the occupied land then that would lead to a better understanding of ways of knowing. One student suggested that our current leadership has become so entrenched in the past that we fail to see new possibilities and ideas. If we could allow ourselves to learn from indigenous knowledge, to look at the three sister crops that appear so disorganized at first glance, then perhaps we can see hope for the future.

 

 

Works Cited

Kimmerer, R. (2013). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Published by Milkweed Editions.

Thomas, Jeffrey Scott. “The Three Sisters – Corn, Beans and Squash.” Country & Victorian Times, 3 Feb. 2013, countryandvictoriantimes.com/2013/02/03/the-three-sisters-corn-beans-and-squash/.