Braiding Sweetgrass: Style 1 key example

This entire chapter is structured under the technical headings Kimmerer lists here. She writes that the headings are "required of the academy." There are some good reasons why science papers are expected to use these technical headings. Methodology is important to sound science. Readers trust scientific papers to present trustworthy findings that are backed in research and data. The headings ensure that scientists are transparent about the methods they have used to collect data and draw conclusions. Kimmerer is a good scientist, and she knows how to use the headings. She uses them here.

At the same time, now that Kimmerer is writing her own book with an independent press, she is not "required" to adhere to this strict form. She takes this opportunity to push the limits of the form. She still uses the headings. The information under each heading generally fulfills the intended purpose. For instance, this passage is part of the "Hypothesis" section. The section really does lay out Kimmerer and Laurie's hypothesis that sweetgrass might need to be harvested to thrive. However, Kimmerer does more in this section. She weighs her personal responsibility to sweetgrass and uses a poetic metaphor to describe how the "tight uniform" of scientific writing restricts "the teachings of the grass," which she knows—from traditional Creation stories—that many scientists have no patience for. She comes to the conclusion that, "[t]o be heard, you must speak the language of the one you want to listen." This final line encompasses the stylistic aim of the whole book. Kimmerer merges different styles so that readers in broad-ranging communities will be able to receive her ideas in their own "language."