The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is Nanabozho?
Nanabozho, the Original Man of Potawatomi and broader Anishinaabe oral tradition, enters Braiding Sweetgrass not as a human character moving through plot but as a mythic foundation holding the entire book's ethical architecture in place. Kimmerer introduces him in the opening chapter, "Skywoman Falling," placing him alongside Skywoman as the two great cosmological figures of Turtle Island. While Skywoman descends from above with seeds and a spirit of gratitude, Nanabozho rises from the Earth itself, born of a human mother and the West Wind. This parentage is significant, making him neither fully human nor fully spirit, but a threshold being who can navigate between worlds and translate their laws. His most intimate gift to the human community is botanical rather than heroic — according to Potawatomi oral tradition, sweetgrass grew in imitation of his mother's long, fragrant hair, making each braid of the plant an act of living remembrance. In this manner, Nanabozho is woven into the book's title even before natural science begins.
02·Arc & motivation
What is Nanabozho's arc and motivation?
Because Nanabozho exists within oral tradition rather than a linear narrative, his "arc" is understood more as a recurring orientation than a personal journey. Across the episodes Kimmerer references, he serves as the archetypal trickster-teacher: a figure whose blunders and curiosities showcase the human experience in a world that is smarter, older, and more generous than any individual. His motivation, as framed by myth, revolves around learning the language of the living world and teaching that language through comic, humbling example. Kimmerer employs this orientation throughout the book to argue that humans are ecological newcomers who must earn their belonging through attention and reciprocity, not through dominion. Nanabozho remains a student of the land, embodying the studentship that Kimmerer urges her readers to adopt.
03·Key moments
What are Nanabozho's key moments?
The most significant moment associated with Nanabozho is the sweetgrass origin story conveyed in the book's opening framework. Kimmerer explains that sweetgrass — Hierochloe odorata — is considered the hair of Nanabozho's mother, linking the act of braiding the grass to an expression of familial love and cultural continuity. This connection is essential; it serves as the etymological and ethical root of the book's central metaphor. Thus, braiding becomes an inherited gesture of care rather than merely a craft technique. Kimmerer also references Nanabozho's broader trickster tradition in contrasting Indigenous ecological ethics with the extractive logic termed Windigo thinking — suggesting that the cautionary tales surrounding Nanabozho's misadventures serve as reminders a culture needs to stay accountable about human appetite and its consequences.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are Nanabozho's most important relationships?
With Skywoman: The two figures serve as Kimmerer's opening cosmological poles. Skywoman descends with gifts already in hand, while Nanabozho emerges from the Earth that embraced her. Together, they establish that proper human relationship to the living world is participatory and grateful, not managerial. Their paired presence in the first chapter frames all subsequent discussions — about the Honorable Harvest, scientific naming practices, and ecological grief — within an Indigenous cosmological context rather than a Western one.
With the Windigo: Nanabozho and the Windigo illustrate different responses to the same human challenge: desire. The trickster stumbles, learns, and returns to reciprocity; the Windigo consumes without regard for consequences. Kimmerer positions Nanabozho's tradition as a cultural immune system that prevents Windigo logic — explicitly linked to extractive capitalism — from becoming a society's driving force.
With Kimmerer and her daughters: Kimmerer actively interprets Nanabozho, selecting and framing his stories to bridge botanical science and Indigenous cosmology. She retells these stories as a means of inheritance, positioning her daughters within an intergenerational chain of responsibility anchored by Nanabozho's enduring example.
With the Elders: The Potawatomi Elders who convey the Honorable Harvest teachings are the living custodians of the oral tradition in which Nanabozho is embedded. Their ecological ethics and his mythic lessons are intertwined; he represents the ancient story while they embody present-day practice.
05·Connected characters
How is Nanabozho connected to the other characters?
Study06–07
06·Questions
Questions readers ask about Nanabozho
Who is Nanabozho in Braiding Sweetgrass?
Nanabozho is the Original Man of Potawatomi and broader Anishinaabe oral tradition, introduced by Kimmerer in the opening chapter as a mythic counterpart to Skywoman. Born of a human mother and the West Wind, he is neither fully human nor fully spirit, making him a liminal figure who bridges worlds. Kimmerer uses his presence to ground the book's ethical and ecological arguments in Indigenous cosmology from the very first pages.
What is Nanabozho's connection to sweetgrass?
According to Potawatomi oral tradition, sweetgrass grew in imitation of Nanabozho's mother's long, fragrant hair, making the plant a living memorial to her. Kimmerer uses this origin story as the ethical and metaphorical root of the book's central image: braiding sweetgrass is not merely a craft but an inherited gesture of familial love, cultural continuity, and reciprocity between humans and the plant world.
How does Nanabozho's relationship with Skywoman work in the book?
Skywoman and Nanabozho form the twin cosmological poles of Kimmerer's opening chapter. Skywoman descends from the Sky World bearing seeds and gratitude, while Nanabozho rises from the Earth itself. Together they establish the book's foundational argument: that humans are meant to be grateful, participatory members of the living world rather than its managers or masters, setting the frame for every ecological and ethical discussion that follows.
Why does Kimmerer describe Nanabozho as a trickster-teacher?
Kimmerer frames Nanabozho as a trickster-teacher because his mythic adventures convey ecological and moral lessons through humbling, sometimes comic, example rather than direct instruction. His stumbles and curiosities model the humility she believes humans must adopt toward a world that is older and wiser than any individual. This pedagogical role is central to her argument that Indigenous oral traditions encode rigorous ethical knowledge about how to live responsibly on the land.
How does Nanabozho differ from the Windigo in Braiding Sweetgrass?
Nanabozho and the Windigo represent opposite responses to human desire. Nanabozho's trickster misadventures ultimately lead back to reciprocity and humility, while the Windigo embodies insatiable consumption with no regard for consequence. Kimmerer positions Nanabozho's tradition as a cultural corrective — a kind of ethical immune system — against the Windigo logic she associates with extractive capitalism and its destruction of the living world.
Does Nanabozho have any famous quoted lines in Braiding Sweetgrass?
No direct speech is attributed to Nanabozho in Braiding Sweetgrass. He functions as a mythic anchor rather than a speaking character, and Kimmerer conveys his teachings through retelling and interpretation rather than recorded dialogue. His significance lies in the stories and ecological ethics embedded in the oral tradition he represents, not in any single quotable line.
What is Nanabozho's relationship to Kimmerer's daughters?
Kimmerer retells Nanabozho's stories partly as an inheritance she passes on to her daughters, situating the mythic figure within an intergenerational chain of cultural memory and responsibility to the land. By sharing his lessons, she positions her daughters inside a living tradition of reciprocity, connecting them to the ancient covenant between the Potawatomi people and the more-than-human world.
Why is Nanabozho described as a liminal or threshold figure in Braiding Sweetgrass?
Nanabozho is liminal because his parentage — a human mother and the West Wind — places him between the human and the more-than-human realms. This in-between status allows him to translate the laws of the living world for human communities. Kimmerer uses this quality to argue that humans must position themselves as humble learners on the margins of nature's knowledge, not as authoritative overseers of it.
07·Essay angles
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Tool · Essay angles