Title:
The earth knows my name : food, culture, and sustainability in the gardens of ethnic Americans
Author:
ISBN:
9780807085622
Publication Information:
Boston : Beacon Press, c2006.
Physical Description:
xxviii, 246 p. ; 23 cm.
Contents:
Prologue : Vanzetti's garden -- Renewal : Four Sisters Garden at Monte Vista Farm, Tesuque Pueblo and Española, New Mexico -- Freedom : the gardens of two Gullah elders, St. Helena Island, South Carolina -- Place : a Polish American vintner and a Japanese American berry farmer, Bainbridge Island, Washington -- Refuge : the Khmer Growers, Amherst, Massachusetts -- Memory : two gardeners from Mussolini's Italy, Redwood City, California, and Leveret, Massachusetts -- Peace : a Punjabi garden, Fullerton, California -- Community : the urban gardens of Nuestras Raíces, South Holyoke, Massachusetts -- Justice : a Yankee farmer and sacred Indian corn, Stonington, Connecticut -- Epilogue : A garden democracy.
Personal Subject:
Summary:
We are a democracy of gardeners yet, with few exceptions, the garden is presented as the province of the privileged. Garden writing tends to exclude the stories of the ethnic peoples who have shaped our landscape for centuries--the idea of the garden has been stripped of its cultural weight. Gardener and writing teacher Klindienst speaks directly to this gap in our understanding, exploring the deeper implications of what it means to cultivate a garden and to grow one's own food. The fifteen gardens she presents have all been fashioned by people usually thought of as other Americans: Native Americans, immigrants, and ethnic peoples who were here long before our national boundaries were drawn. All of these gardeners straddle two cultures--mainstream America and their culture of origin. Their stewardship of the land is an expression of the desire to preserve their heritage against all that threatens it.--From publisher description.
