Ethnobotany Project : Contemporary Uses of Native Plants , Southern California and Northern Baja Indians
Rose Ramirez and Deborah Small ; designed by Tima Lotah Link
Blurb , 2015 , 92 pp , $ 20 Available at www . blurb . com / b / 6447687-ethnobotany-project Reviewed by Bryn Barabas Potter
the first thing you ’ ll notice with Ethnobothany Project is how the striking images draw you in . The photographs are so brilliantly detailed that you feel as if you ’ re gathering plants with elders and friends whose voices speak out from the pages . Rose Ramirez and Deborah Small were both authors and photographers for this significant work .
This project began when Ramirez asked Small to join her in 2007 . For years they had worked independently to learn about and record plant usage by Native people . Ramirez recalls , “ We took both our photography and documentation skills and started working toward ethnobotany . With every interview and photograph session we realized how much more we needed to learn .”
In 2010 , they featured twelve plants in a large format calendar entitled Edible , Medicinal , Material , Ceremonial : Contemporary Ethnobotany of Southern California Indians . Small explains that Ethnobotany Project “ expands on this , adding twelve native plants of profound importance to Native people .”
“ It has been very important to us to include the voices of our collaborators talking about their uses of plants ,” notes Small . Every page contains a storehouse of knowledge gleaned from these collaborators : elderberry-harvesting tips from Barbara Drake ( Tongva ); Lorene Sisquoc ( Cahuilla / Fort Sill Apache ) teaching Sherman Indian High School students to dehydrate wild cherries ; Richard Bugbee ( Luiseño ) using the shiny leaves of yerba santa like Band-Aids ; Teresa Castro ( Paipai / Ko ’ alh ) processing agave leaves into fibers for huaraches ( sandals ). Ramirez , of Chumash ancestry , commented that the collaborators “ put their trust in us to do the right thing and make a beautiful book that benefits other California Indians . We are helping , in my case , fellow Native Californians to recover what was so horribly dismantled and all but lost .”
Several pages are devoted to each of twelve indigenous plants . For instance , a manzanita branch loaded with golden berries casually rests across an open page — or so it appears . The photographs are precisely detailed , and the lovely design work by Tima Lotah Link ( Shmuwich Chumash ) is intimate . Inset illustrations include a cluster of blooming pink blossoms , a close-up of a sun-kissed clump of berries , hands gripping a mano that grinds dried berries on a metate , and an artful still life featuring a white ceramic cup of manzanita tea with a saucer , metal strainer , and wooden pounder . A quote from William Pink ( Luiseño / Cupeño ) lets us know that flavorful dried fruit from the big berry manzanita has “ a lot of tang to it .” A side note recognizes manzanita ’ s role in providing habitat for bees , butterflies , hummingbirds , and coyote .
“ California ’ s Native people are determined to teach about foods , plants , and native habitats in order to continue their cultural traditions , while educating younger generations and the public .” Through the blend of plant facts , personal stories , and phenomenal photography , the authors have achieved their goal with Ethnobotany Project . There are plans to translate it into Kumeyaay and Spanish this year .
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