Excellent new series of indigenous videos on KCET!

Hello EthnoBotany fans,

I wanted to share a great resource for anyone interested in California ethnobotany.

“Tending Nature” is a new video series that is free to watch online on the KCET website. For those that don’t know (myself included), KCET is a channel of the Public Media Group of Southern California, formed by the 2018 merger of KCETLink Media Group and PBS SoCal. So you can think of KCET as an extension of PBS media.

This video series shines a light on the environmental knowledge of Indigenous peoples across California.

It’s easy to regard “Native Americans” in a historical context. We read about pre-colonial cultures in history books while we’re in high school. What many folks don’t appreciate is that these communities are still alive and vibrant today. I’ve come to appreciate that it is best to avoid using the past tense when discussing indigenous use of plants. These plants are still in use today…. Tending Nature does a great job of communicating this idea to a broad audience.

A film crew is travelling across the state of California to discuss contemporary issues and projects that are vital to indigenous communities. This season, the film crew has spoken with the Tolowa Dee-ni’, Ohlone, the Pit River tribes, and the multi-tribal Potawot Health Village.

 

Here is a description of the segment of Tending Nature that focuses on traditional medicine.

Indigenous peoples in California relied on traditional gathering to provide for all of their food and medicinal needs. California’s landscapes produce hundreds of indigenous plant species that have been used thousands of years prior to European contact. And many of these plants and their preparations as medicine informed modern pharmacopeia, most notably aspirin, which is derived from the bark of the willow tree. Native herbalism continues to be relevant today. There is a resurgence of traditional medicinal practices in Native communities and a growing interest in this knowledge in popular culture.

Tending Nature is produced in partnership with the Autry Museum of the American West. This is a fantastic museum located in LA.