“Then the Nettle People Won’t Be Lonely”: Recognizing the Personhood of Plants in an Indigenous STEAM Summer Program

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the ways that a STEAM-focused summer program for Indigenous youth supported learning in accordance with Indigenous axiologies (what we value esthetically or morally), ontologies (what we believe to be real and how we enact those beliefs), and epistemologies (what we know and how we know it) or AOE. Part of these AOEs include enacting kin relationships through recognizing the personhood of more-than-human beings. We posit that (1) our socio-cultural, political, and ethical orientations regarding human-nature relations affect our behaviors and that (2) shifting the way we view nature (e.g., recognizing plant personhood) may be a powerful contributor to more equitable climate futures. We present a case study of the relationship between a human child, Talon, and a plant called Stinging Nettle. We specifically move to answer: Did the program design support engagement in the recognition of plant personhood? If so, in what ways? The paper describes six dimensions of recognizing plant personhood. Findings illustrate how the program design resulted in the development of a strong human-plant relationship. We discuss implications for STEM and climate change education in supporting ecologically sustainable living and decision-making.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Indigenous community in Seattle and to our ISTEAM co-designers, families, facilitators, and research assistants who made this project possible. We extend our gratitude to Doug Medin, Jeanette Bushnell, Ananda Marin, Anna Lees, Alice Tsoodle, Emma Elliott, Roger Fernandes, Fern Renville, Megan McGinty, Priya Pugh, Meixi, Victoria Plumage, Cece Hoffman, Mario Guerra, Elizabeth Starks, Ceni Myles, Gabriel de los Angeles, Joh Howard, Jordan Sherry-Wagner, and Brett Ramey for their leadership, contributions, and insights in this project. Thank you, also, to our generous and kind reviewers and to Paula Hooper, Shirin Vossoughi, Marlene Brito-Millan, Miguel Ovies-Bocanegra, Corey Winchester, Kat Castillo, Jennie Woodring, Krystal Villanosa, Kaleb Germinaro, and Erin Lane for their constructive feedback and support. And we offer an incredibly special thank you to Kevin Barry for the many, many hours he spent providing invaluable feedback for this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project has been funded by the National Science Foundation [Grant # DRL 1713368 and DRL 1712796]