4.0
Soil
ByPublisher Description
A “heartfelt and thoroughly enriching” (Aimee Nezhukumatathil, New York Times bestselling author of World of Wonders) work that expands on how we talk about the natural world and the environment as National Book Critics Circle finalist Camille T. Dungy diversifies her garden to reflect her heritage.
In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominantly white community of Fort Collins, Colorado. When she moved there in 2013, with her husband and daughter, the community held strict restrictions about what residents could and could not plant in their gardens.
In resistance to the homogenous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet, and why cultivating diverse and intersectional language in our national discourse about the environment is the best means of protecting it.
“Brilliant and beautiful” (Ross Gay, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights), Soil functions as the nexus of nature writing, environmental justice, and prose to encourage you to recognize the relationship between the people of the African diaspora and the land on which they live, and to understand that wherever soil rests beneath their feet is home.
In Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominantly white community of Fort Collins, Colorado. When she moved there in 2013, with her husband and daughter, the community held strict restrictions about what residents could and could not plant in their gardens.
In resistance to the homogenous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet, and why cultivating diverse and intersectional language in our national discourse about the environment is the best means of protecting it.
“Brilliant and beautiful” (Ross Gay, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights), Soil functions as the nexus of nature writing, environmental justice, and prose to encourage you to recognize the relationship between the people of the African diaspora and the land on which they live, and to understand that wherever soil rests beneath their feet is home.
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4.0
Still.Museum
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Grace R
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Rosalie
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“A very impactful read. The author poetically explored her relationship with the natural world through her garden while also highlighting the intersections between race and the environment. There were conversations about motherhood, art, ecological relationships, and what it means to be black in America.
Environmental conversations that include people of color almost always acknowledge how important it is to include diverse voices and to uplift marginalized communities. Many other environmental conversations also have a legacy of colonialism, racism and segregation, and violence, so to juxtapose those conversations in the context of a garden, with words from an African American poet, and from a reader who is from the same state this story takes place in, made for a captivating and emotional read.
If you liked braiding sweetgrass, or if you’re an environmentalist, or an artist, or if you are a human being, I HIGHLY recommend this book.”
Hannah
Created 14 days agoShare
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“Im glad I read this during winter time because I am even more inspired and motivated to work on my garden for next year. Camille does a really great job of using the interactions between the beings in her garden as metaphors for being Black in America. I appreciate her wisdom and the attention on her own personal history and how she is able to connect her story to the landscapes and environments she has occupied. I learned a lot from this book, however, I do think the overall organisation was lacking.”
About Camille T Dungy
Camille T. Dungy is the author of the essay collection Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She has edited three anthologies, including Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry. Her honors include the 2021 Academy of American Poets Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an American Book Award. She is a University Distinguished Professor at Colorado State University.
Other books by Camille T Dungy
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