Allyship Lessons from Braiding Sweetgrass for Ethical Indigenous Advocacy

By Kailash Muthukumar*

My experience reading Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants felt less like reading a book and more like receiving an education in reciprocity. As a high school senior and a non-Indigenous ally deeply involved in policy and advocacy with organizations like the Association on American Indian Affairs (the Association) and the Institute for American Indian Studies (IAIS), this book did not just introduce me to Indigenous knowledge systems, it provided the essential ethical framework needed to approach federal Indian law, Native Nation sovereignty, and intergenerational  justice with the required humility. 

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