What if you called your mother ‘it’?
Finding an appropriate way to speak of our beloved Mother Earth.
The deep relationship of reciprocity that the First Nations peoples of North America share with Mother Earth is one that has had a profound impact on my life. I’ve been greatly influenced by many of their stories, beliefs and practices.
Their relationship with the Earth is one that is based on a profound spiritual connection and has guided the First Nations peoples to practice reverence, humility and reciprocity. They see the Earth as a living being which consistently provides for us, they see humans as caretakers of the Earth, and their beliefs about sustainability are almost unparalleled across the world — the seven generation stewardship urges the current generation to act with the benefit of seven generations in the future in mind. They seem acutely aware of the gifts Mother Earth bestows upon us — far more so than many of us in occidental cultures. They understand that the rocks, rivers and trees are great teachers, and have developed an intricate knowledge and understanding of the natural world.
For me, though, one of the most influential concepts is their notion of the Earth’s animacy, and how their relationship with Mother Earth has informed their language and grammar — specifically the language they use for talking about the natural world. For many First Nations peoples, all living beings are animate — this includes humans and animals, yes, but it also includes plants, rocks, rivers, trees. Each of these has their own intelligence, their own knowledge and understanding — knowledge which, if we would only open our ears and eyes, we can learn from.
Perhaps one of the causes of the environmental destruction and degradation that is characterising our generation is not only that we have forgotten the intelligence in all kinds of life and have thus labeled many animate, Earthly beings, as inanimate, but that our language almost forces this inanimacy upon us.
Could the English language actually be perpetuating our ecological crisis?
Nature Needs a New Pronoun
Robin Wall Kimmerer, a botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, is a professor of environmental biology at the State University of New York and the founding director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Wall Kimmerer is also learning her native Anishinaabe language and believes that there is a serious problem with the English pronoun “it”. As she explains, “Grammar is how we chart relationships through language, including our relationship with the Earth,” and the grammar that we have in the English language is not one that inspires connection and inseparability, but instead reduces non-human beings, including our Earth, to mere ‘things’.
Imagine speaking of your own mother and saying “it has grey hair,” or “it is cooking lunch” — such a mistake would be an incredible act of disrespect, and would rob your mother of selfhood and kinship. Using “it” reduces your mother to merely a ‘thing’. We certainly wouldn’t dream of calling our mother “it”, and yet, in the English language, that is the only pronoun available for us to refer to our beloved Mother Earth.
Our language allows for no form of respect for the other-than-human beings with which we share this Earth….all 8.7million species of them. Animate beings are either human or they are “it”. “It” results in the objectification of the natural world, which in turn perpetuates the belief in human supremacy and dominion over nature — a belief that has lead to the reckless exploitation of our Earth. When you call a tree an “it”, it isn’t entirely surprising that we are able to clear forests without a second thought. As Wall Kimmerer points out, ‘“it” means it doesn’t matter.’
However, in Anishinaabemowin (the Anishinaabe language), along with many other indigenous languages, it is simply impossible to speak of animate beings as “it”. ‘We use the same words to address all living beings as we do our family. Because they are our family,’ explains Wall Kimmerer.
She suggests that perhaps the time has come for a transformation of the English language — an adoption of a pronoun that more accurately represents our true relationship to the natural world and the beautiful planet we are fortunate enough to call home. We might find the inspiration for such a pronoun within the Anishinaabe language itself.
Wall Kimmerer spoke with fluent Anishinaabemowin speaker and spiritual teacher Stewart King, who explained that the Anishinaabe word for beings of the living Earth would be ‘Bemaadiziiaaki’. She recognised the beauty of the word, but also its limitations in replacing the word “it”. Such a long and complicated word would not easily find a home in the English language. Instead, she proposes that we can find a new pronoun nestled within “Bemaadiziiaaki”. Instead of the whole word, we could simply have, “ki”. “Ki” as the pronoun to talk of living beings of the Earth. Not “he” or “she”, but “ki”. We would also need a plural pronoun, and this is, in fact, already part of our own language. The plural to “ki” would simply be “kin,” — a perfect fit for describing our earthly ‘family and relations’.
Wall Kimmerer gives the examples of speaking of Sugar Maple and geese; ‘when we speak of Sugar Maple, we say, “Oh that beautiful tree, ki is giving us sap again this spring.”…[and] on a crisp October morning we can look up at the geese and say, “Look, kin are flying south for the winter. Come back soon.”’ Here in Brighton we could speak of the ocean and say “ki always calms and soothes my spirit,” and when speaking of the seagulls, “kin are trying to steal my chips.”
There is an instant shift in perception when one talks of the natural world through the use of these new pronouns. Instead of the feeling of disconnection that comes with “it”, all living beings of the Earth become beings that we are deeply and inseparably connected to. Instead of being mere objects, primed for exploitation, they are subjects with their own intelligence, knowledge and spirit. Subjects which are, as other humans, deserving of our respect and kindness.
For those who think this is an unrealistic endeavour it is important to remember that the English language is constantly changing and adapting. Words are forgotten or go out of fashion, and new words are added or invented when needed. We cannot deny that we are living in a time when words that encourage a relationship of kindness, respect and kinship towards the natural world are desperately needed. These pronouns may give us the ability to transform our perception of, and relationship to, the natural world. They are powerful pronouns of transformation, and could have the ability to pave the way for a healthy, thriving future.
And so let us reserve “it” for man-made, inanimate materials and objects, and, as Wall Kimmerer rightly suggests, ‘speak of the beings of Earth as the “kin” they are.’
Perhaps the future of sustainability really could be marked by the humble work of the pronoun.
This is a sample story from Inherited:Brighton, a combination of magazine and journal that aims to provide the tools and inspiration to help you cultivate a deeper connection to nature. Read another sample story here, or visit www.inheritedjournal.com to pre-order a copy today.
