*Please note that this is a mixed race space where Black voices and experiences will be centered.
Knowledge Share Description
We are all ethnobotanists. Ethnobotany is the study of the relationship between plant life and human life. This important connection is the basis of plant use for medicines and food. In the history of important plants, it is a compelling irony that the uses for cotton seeds and roots were widely known by African women, employed as effective abortifacients for personal acts of agency and resistance against the heinous system of chattel slavery and forced breeding. The knowledge share will be a chance for us to consider and listen to the stories of plants as an important part of any plant medicine practice. We will discover past uses for the cotton plant and learn the importance of uncovering plant stories.
Knowledge Share Includes
The history of western medicine and herbalism demands that we understand the various ways that these narratives have glorified and exalted an oppressive colonization of both plants and people, while erasing and destroying the lived, land-based, traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and communities of color. In this knowledge share we will:
Define ethnobotany as the sacred stories and teachings of plants, including plant history and plant/human relationships.
Reflect on the task of unlearning, learning, decolonizing, and reclaiming the stories of plant medicines.
Understand the importance of ethnobotanical knowledge for plant medicine clinical practice and herbalism.
Explore the specific historical role the cotton plant played in trauma, justice, and liberation.
Discover the importance of ethnobotany - plant stories - to historical and current issues of trauma and justice in BIPOC communities.
Exchange
$35
$75 reparations (If you have financial abundance, this is our pay-it-forward option to fund our scholarships and work redistributing resources to Black and Indigenous Land Projects)
For scholarships please email herbancura@gmail.com with subject Cotton
Access
*ASR Captioning provided
*Spanish interpretation available (Si requiere interpretacion por favor mande un email a herbancura@gmail.com)
Virtual Gathering
Zoom link will be sent out via email 1-2 days before knowledge share
1-4pm EST / 10-1 PST
Class will be recorded and available for 30 days
Facilitator
Dr. Claudia J. Ford has had a career in international development and women’s health spanning four decades and all continents. Claudia is a professor of environmental studies at State University of New York, Potsdam, and a midwife and ethnobotanist, who teaches, conducts research and writes about traditional ecological knowledge, spiritual ecology, entheogenic plant medicine, women’s reproductive health, and sustainable agriculture. Claudia is a writer, poet, and visual artist; and a single mother who has shared the delights and adventures of her global travel with her four children.