Personhood
A Reflection on Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Essay, “Speaking of Nature,” which appears here:
https://orionmagazine.org/article/speaking-of-nature/
As a scientist specializing in mosses, Robin Wall Kimmerer must regard the uniqueness of each species, possibly that of each plant. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Tribe, she is heir to a tradition that grants personhood to every living creature, including some which my own culture would not regard as alive, such as rivers and fire.
In English, we reserve names and use the pronouns he and she solely for humans and a few special beings, such as pet dogs. For inanimate objects and every other living thing, we use the pronoun “it.” Kimmerer spends several paragraphs on the word "it," as a disrespectful term from her perspective. Calling a bear or a beaver “it” is horrifying to her, just as calling a grandparent “it” would be horrifying to us.
To remedy this situation, she proposes using the words Ki and Kin for nonhuman creatures that she regards as persons. She sought the guidance of an elder and settled on the word “Ki,” the second syllable of a long Potawatomi word meaning “being of the earth.” She proposes the word “kin” as a plural pronoun.
Kimmerer spent a few pages in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, on this subject, but I do not recall her introducing the new words “Ki” and “Kin.” She pointed out that she would refer to an animal or plant as someone rather than something.
After reading the book, I experimented with using the term “someone” in statements such as “someone has built a dam on someone who flows between two banks.” These poems elicited puzzled looks from others attending an open mic where I read them, except from one person, who vigorously nodded and said, “Yes, someone, not something.” So, one of twenty caught my meaning.
While it is true that language shapes our mindset toward the natural world and everything else that we experience, it is also true that common usage shapes language. This is how Middle English became Modern English, and Latin gave rise to the Romance languages. In my opinion, the process happens through cultural shifts, rather than intentionality.
As a practical matter, I do not know whether modern Western culture can extend the respect due to personhood to nonhuman beings, either philosophically or linguistically. The way we use language matters, but the sort of change Kimmerer advocates may not be well received, although there is some historical precedent.
I recall reading “The Canticle of Brother Sun” by St. Francis of Assisi. It begins by praising God through Brother Sun and goes on to reference Brother Wind, Brother Fire, Sister Water, Sister Moon, Sister Air, and our Sister Mother Earth. One commentator said his greatest miracle was not being burned at the stake as a heretic. Another suggested St. Francis as the patron saint of the environmental movement.
I like the language of St. Francis and Robin Wall Kimmerer because it aligns with my worldview, but making such a change in my writing may jeopardize my chances of publication. Nevertheless, I continue to eliminate the word “it” in reference to non-human life forms.
For example, to avoid saying “he,” “she,” or “it,” I use the animal type's name. Instead of saying “it was asleep in its den,” I would say the bear slept in the den.
A Reflection on Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Essay, “Speaking of Nature,” which appears here:
https://orionmagazine.org/article/speaking-of-nature/
As a scientist specializing in mosses, Robin Wall Kimmerer must regard the uniqueness of each species, possibly that of each plant. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Tribe, she is heir to a tradition that grants personhood to every living creature, including some which my own culture would not regard as alive, such as rivers and fire.
In English, we reserve names and use the pronouns he and she solely for humans and a few special beings, such as pet dogs. For inanimate objects and every other living thing, we use the pronoun “it.” Kimmerer spends several paragraphs on the word "it," as a disrespectful term from her perspective. Calling a bear or a beaver “it” is horrifying to her, just as calling a grandparent “it” would be horrifying to us.
To remedy this situation, she proposes using the words Ki and Kin for nonhuman creatures that she regards as persons. She sought the guidance of an elder and settled on the word “Ki,” the second syllable of a long Potawatomi word meaning “being of the earth.” She proposes the word “kin” as a plural pronoun.
Kimmerer spent a few pages in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, on this subject, but I do not recall her introducing the new words “Ki” and “Kin.” She pointed out that she would refer to an animal or plant as someone rather than something.
After reading the book, I experimented with using the term “someone” in statements such as “someone has built a dam on someone who flows between two banks.” These poems elicited puzzled looks from others attending an open mic where I read them, except from one person, who vigorously nodded and said, “Yes, someone, not something.” So, one of twenty caught my meaning.
While it is true that language shapes our mindset toward the natural world and everything else that we experience, it is also true that common usage shapes language. This is how Middle English became Modern English, and Latin gave rise to the Romance languages. In my opinion, the process happens through cultural shifts, rather than intentionality.
As a practical matter, I do not know whether modern Western culture can extend the respect due to personhood to nonhuman beings, either philosophically or linguistically. The way we use language matters, but the sort of change Kimmerer advocates may not be well received, although there is some historical precedent.
I recall reading “The Canticle of Brother Sun” by St. Francis of Assisi. It begins by praising God through Brother Sun and goes on to reference Brother Wind, Brother Fire, Sister Water, Sister Moon, Sister Air, and our Sister Mother Earth. One commentator said his greatest miracle was not being burned at the stake as a heretic. Another suggested St. Francis as the patron saint of the environmental movement.
I like the language of St. Francis and Robin Wall Kimmerer because it aligns with my worldview, but making such a change in my writing may jeopardize my chances of publication. Nevertheless, I continue to eliminate the word “it” in reference to non-human life forms.
For example, to avoid saying “he,” “she,” or “it,” I use the animal type's name. Instead of saying “it was asleep in its den,” I would say the bear slept in the den.
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