On Healing : Understanding People-Plant Relationships through Ecopoetry and Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings

Abstract

The following is an investigation of the unique and often misunderstood relationship between humans and plants. Today, there is an obvious disconnect between people and the natural world. Settler colonialism has fostered this separation, leading to our drastically worsening global climate crisis. Often exacerbated by those who decide that making a profit is more beneficial than the longevity of our Earth. Human actions cause consequences for all beings on our planet. The age of the Anthropocene shows that now more than ever the politics of humans affects nonhuman beings. I would argue that western through patterns such as settler colonialism and plant blindness not only divide humans and the natural world but humans from themselves. With this, I have often wondered how it is that we are to connect with the Earth if we cannot connect with ourselves. This ties into the same concept: "if you can’t love yourself, how will you love anyone else?” If you cannot heal yourself and acknowledge that healing is not only physical but a mental and spiritual process, how are you to participate in the health of our planet? How do we heal our physical and nonphysical bodies? How do we heal our relationship with the Earth and the other beings that we inhabit her with? With a focus on medicinal plants, (found in the Midwest Region– native and house plant) ecopoetry will be used to explain and understand the connections humans have to the plant world. This research will refer to Anishinaabe teachings and theories to demonstrate a view of plants outside of the individualistic western view and challenge ways of thinking put in place by settler colonialism.