NYU Reads brings the NYU community together around a single, shared reading chosen by a University committee of faculty, student, and administrator representatives. Building on our undergraduate schools’ first-year reading programs, NYU Reads extends this dialogue beyond Welcome Week and opens it to the entire University community. This year’s selection is Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer and provides multiple points of inquiry into the ecologic sphere.
A research guide was created to engage the campus community in additional resources for the rich text. The guide was curated in partnership with the Office of the Provost and NYU Libraries and was created by Katherine Santana, a second-year dual master’s student pursuing an MA in Food Studies at New York University Steinhardt and an MS in Library and Information Science at the Long Island University Palmer School of Library and Information Science.
The guide emulates the essence and structure of the book and is available to support faculty with their assigned readings and for students seeking inspiration on how to approach the text. Each tab and subtab in the research guide is named after a chapter of the book or specific theme. Similarly, each tab in this guide is accompanied by a quote from the book that best exemplifies the tab’s covered themes. Each theme is supplemented with various resources, including news articles, organizations, books, journal articles, magazines, and videos.
Special attention was paid to the guide’s use of language. The word Indigenous is present throughout the guide to promote inclusivity. The term Native American was used to distinguish information that solely focuses on people who are native to North America. Katherine mentions enjoying the Honorable Harvest and Indigenous Ethnobotany tabs:
“With my focus in Food Studies, it was beautiful to showcase the power and prevalence of food in day-to-day life. It has been an honor and a pleasure to be part of this experience. [Creating this] guide was both joyful and powerful.”
The final tab is the research guide for the NYU Reads 2020-21 selection, Just Mercy, curated by NYU graduate student Nicholas Caldwell in partnership with the Office of the Provost, NYU Libraries, and the NYU College of Arts and Sciences Office of Academic Affairs.
For more information about NYU Reads University programming, please visit the NYU Reads webpage.
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