The Serviceberry: An Economy of Gifts and Abundance

Just released! 

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer will also be presenting as part of 4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning! Sign-up to hear her, and 11 other incredible Indigenous presenters.

About The Serviceberry: An Economy of Gifts and Abundance:

As Indigenous scientist and author of Braiding Sweetgrass Robin Wall Kimmerer harvests serviceberries alongside the birds, she considers the ethic of reciprocity that lies at the heart of the gift economy. How, she asks, can we learn from Indigenous wisdom and the plant world to reimagine what we value most? Our economy is rooted in scarcity, competition, and the hoarding of resources, and we have surrendered our values to a system that actively harms what we love.

Meanwhile, the serviceberry’s relationship with the natural world is an embodiment of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and gratitude. The tree distributes its wealth–its abundance of sweet, juicy berries–to meet the needs of its natural community. And this distribution insures its own survival. As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries (also knowns as Saskatoon berries) show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a presenter as part of our 4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning Course. She is a mother, scientist, professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants as well as Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Kimmerer is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow. She lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.