Season’s Readings Program

Dec 12, 2024 11:00am-1:00pm

Harriett B. Wick Chapel

Light refreshments featuring plants important to Native American people will follow the presentation, which is co-sponsored by the Friends of Hanley Library and the Braiding Sweetgrass Committee. 

The chapter from which he will read is entitled, “Witch Hazel,” and is about a Christmas season during which Kimmerer and her family helped an elderly neighbor fulfill her long-held dream of returning once more to her family home.

Dr. Ulin is Professor and Director of English and has been a faculty member at Pitt-Bradford since 1998.  He has hosted the Season’s Readings program since shortly after his arrival in Bradford.  His primary area of expertise is 19th Century British Literature, but he also teaches a wide range of literature courses.  His presentation is part of the University’s year-long exploration and celebration of the Braiding Sweetgrass book, which will culminate with the author’s visit to Pitt-Bradford on March 18, 2025.  

Braiding Sweetgrass explores the relationship to the land in Native American traditions and advocates for a more reciprocal and respectful relationship between humans and the natural world.  Kimmerer, who is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, is a Distinguished Teaching Professor at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.  She writes about her personal experiences working with plants and reuniting with her people's cultural traditions. She explains the significance of sweetgrass, which according to myth is believed to be the first plant to grow on earth. The author calls her work "an intertwining of science, spirit, and story.