Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi) is an Associate Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF). Information on Dr. Kimmerer and her work is available at the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at <http://www.esf.edu/nativepeoples/>.
She is the author of Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Here is an extract from the preface to that book (p. vii), entitled “Seeing the World Through Moss-colored Glasses”:
In indigenous ways of knowing, we say that a thing cannot be understood until it is known by all four aspects of our being: mind, body, emotion, and spirit. The scientific way of knowing relies only on empirical information from the world, gathered by body and interpreted by mind. In order to tell the mosses’ story I need both approaches, objective and subjective. These essays intentionally give voice to both ways of knowing, letting matter and spirit walk companionably side by side. And sometimes even dance.
Dr. Kimmerer also teaches a variety of courses, including one on the ecology of mosses. Her 2010 syllabus for this course is available online at <http://www.esf.edu/efb/kimmerer/mossecology/intro.htm>, and her syllabus is available for download here: <www.esf.edu/efb/kimmerer/mossecology/documents/intro.doc>, and here: 646, The Ecology of Mosses S10 (R. Kimmerer).