SENIOR STUDY
My senior study has been a line of inquiry based around the herbalist theory that the medicine we need grows around us. I learned this from the herbalist Rachel Budde from Fat in Moon Herbals in a workshop she gave (Lanyado & Budde), but have heard it from other herbalists as well. I was curious how this concept could be applied to whole areas of land, and instead of medicine for individuals, I was curious if the plants could inform which sort of medicine was needed for the ways settler colonialism had affected the land and the people. I connected with 2 local pieces of land that I already had relationships with and could trace specific pieces of early American settler colonial history to. I built on my relationships with each piece of land and observed which plants grew there. I observed how each landscape shifted through the seasons. I showed up wanting to listen to what the land needs, wants, and desires. I asked the land what needs to be grieved, transformed, heard or acknowledged. I noticed what plants were growing on the pieces of land and wondered what medicine the land might be growing for itself?
Site 1: James Babson Cooperage + Surrounding Field and Trails
Site 2: Whales Cove + Historical Marker + Adjacent Coast
more context
This senior study is honestly me. It is about using what I know about whiteness, the importance of the body, and what I know through my own life experience about the importance of a connection with the natural world. It is also about investigating what whiteness takes away from white people, which in my opinion makes us cause more harm. For me these things are belonging and connection but there are many more (Elliott, 2016). In addition I include my relationship with my ancestors and how I've wrestled with how to view my own ancestors. Some of them who I know have caused harm. Questioning what sort of relationship to have with them, as well as building relationships with other ancestors that might connect me back to earth based knowledge and spirituality systems that they practiced is a part of this senior study.
When I started this senior study I was naively hopeful I was going to find new ways to help whiteness unravel. What I found instead was more ways to love myself as a person while being critical of how whiteness operates in my body, in my mind, and in my life choices.
