Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science

by Jessica Hernandez

An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn’t working–and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors.

Despite the undeniable fact that Indigenous communities are among the most affected by climate devastation, Indigenous science is nowhere to be found in mainstream environmental policy or discourse. And while holistic land, water, and forest management practices born from millennia of Indigenous knowledge systems have much to teach all of us, Indigenous science has long been ignored, otherized, or perceived as “soft”–the product of a systematic, centuries-long campaign of racism, colonialism, extractive capitalism, and delegitimization.

Here, Jessica Hernandez–Maya Ch’orti’ and Zapotec environmental scientist and founder of environmental agency Piña Soul–introduces and contextualizes Indigenous environmental knowledge and proposes a vision of land stewardship that heals rather than displaces, that generates rather than destroys. She breaks down the failures of western-defined conservatism and shares alternatives, citing the restoration work of urban Indigenous people in Seattle; her family’s fight against ecoterrorism in Latin America; and holistic land management approaches of Indigenous groups across the continent.

Through case studies, historical overviews, and stories that center the voices and lived experiences of Indigenous Latin American women and land protectors, Hernandez makes the case that if we’re to recover the health of our planet–for everyone–we need to stop the eco-colonialism ravaging Indigenous lands and restore our relationship with Earth to one of harmony and respect.

Genres: Nonfiction, Indigenous, Science, Nature, Environment, History, Social Justice

10 pages, Audiobook

First published January 18, 2022

About the author

Jessica Hernandez is a Maya Ch’orti and Binnizá-Zapotec Indigenous environmental scientist, activist, author, and researcher at the University of Washington. Her work is primarily focused on climate, energy, and environmental justice. She is known for her book, Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science.

Reviews

[Haden · Rating 2 out of 5]

it truly pains me to rate this book so low. i was SO excited to read this--i've been looking for writing on this topic for a few months--and

the ideas were great. there was a great book somewhere in here, but hernandez was absolutely failed by the publishing house's editing team--to the point where i wonder if they even afforded her one.

some examples:
- some sections of the book were good, but others were extremely structurally disorganized, such as the chapter that, by the title, i expected to be about indigenous food, but instead took a sharp segue to talk about the geopolitical history of banana republics and why comparing the january 6th insurrections to them was offensive and incorrect, before veering back to talk about climate-change-intensified hurricanes' effects on indigenous crops and then over to a metaphor comparing tamale preparation to indigenous resilience.
- references to covid at the beginning of the book were "the 2020 pandemic," and as the book progressed they became "the 2020-2021 pandemic" and "the covid pandemic that started in 2020," as if tracking in real time her work writing it--instead of making consistent use throughout the text
- repeating information, sometimes with exact or near-exact wording within a page or two. the worst example i found used the same wording three times within five or six lines

and the most egregious: no one at the publisher catching the word-slip mix-up that referred to the "eastern european colonial powers" acting in latin america, using england as an example. people mistype things all the time. i know i do, especially in ways that wouldn't get picked up by spell/grammar check! but it's an editor's job to catch that! it's an editor's job to help polish the manuscript for publication. i've read other books that laud their editors in the acknowledgement section for helping them take the jumble of their draft and turn it into the final text (like rebecca roanhorse for black sun, where her editing team literally told her to rewrite the first draft completely).

given how white the publishing industry is, failing to do the barest basics of their job for an indigenous woman...yikes

[Meredith Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.25/5 stars) I went into this book expecting one thing, and what I got was different, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Based on the preview (indented below):

An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn't working--and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors.

I was expecting examples of how indigenous science and practices have been used in sustainable agriculture, forestry, etc. and how those practices might be applied again/on a broader scale. I did see this some in the book (the discussion of milpas, examples of partnerships founded by Indigenous women that uplift the communities), but the focus was more on the need to decolonize/center Indigenous voices in the discussion instead of providing scientific (even if not scientific in the Western lens) examples. What I realized as I read the book was that from an Indigenous lens, things aren't easily put in boxes; the environment, gender, health, etc. are all intertwined as part of the Indigenous identity. I definitely learned a lot!

I found this book repetitive (with the same examples and explanations used in multiple chapters) and in need of more citations. I know the author discusses (twice) that she doesn't believe that her personal experience as an Indigenous woman needs citations, and I agree! However, there were statistics and references to reports or historical events throughout the book that weren't cited at all. To me, the writing needed an editor to help tighten things up and make sure things flowed together. Some of the chapters felt very separate from each other (as though they were written as individual chapters out of context of the whole book and then stitched together in manuscript format), which could explain the repetitiveness of parts of it.

Additionally, the author attributes a quote to her grandmother at the beginning of the third chapter that's a paraphrase of a quote which should be attributed to the late Kenyan leader Jomo Kenyatta (and is commonly misattributed to the late Desmond Tutu) - the observation that when the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. "They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened our eyes, they had the land and we had the Bible."

[Kate Maccio]

Editor should be fired.

[Mary (literary_bear) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book more. I came to Fresh Banana Leaves after having read Braiding Sweetgrass. On the surface, the two Native ethnobotany texts would seem to have a lot of overlapping content but the actual execution couldn’t be more different. Where Sweetgrass is lyrical and soft, Banana Leaves is disjointed and hard to follow. Hernandez has a lot of good information and important points packed in here, but they are presented in a repetitive, disorganized, and confusing manner.

I can’t help but wonder what support the author had after finishing the text. This book seems like it could have shined much more brightly with some reorganization, editing, and tightening up. The publisher failed this book and the important Indigenous lessons contained within.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for the knowledge contained, minus a star because the publisher did Hernandez dirty. Did they even edit this?

So much information was repeated time and time again, sometimes within the same paragraph, not just across the various essays. A simple pass by an editor would have streamlined and corrected this and made this book so much stronger (it is already powerful).

[Karen Puc · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Netgalley. I read it before the holidays and it allowed me to have conversations with my family about our culture and traditions. I am Mayan from Mexico and our lived experiences are very similar to Mayan people in Central America. It is rare to find a book from an Indigenous perspective that does not romanticize our cultures. I enjoyed reading this book and it was not too dense for a scientific book. The author does a good job at breaking down scientific concepts so that the everyday person who is not a scientist can read it. I think everyone should read this book. I really loved the quotes integrated in the book. If you do not know much about Indigenous peoples from Latin America especially Mayan people, this is the book to pick up and learn more. My last name is Mayan so I am a good person to tell you that this is a great mayan book!

[Valeria · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a Salvadoran and mestiza, I was excited to read this book, mostly because I was eager to learn the perspective of indigenous communities. What Hernandez refers to as Settler Colonialism should be addressed and discussed more - especially among us (Central Americans)- to uplift Indigenous communities within our countries. This book was about self-reflection and understanding the role I play socially and politically. Unfortunately, as Hernandez mentions, western teaching is rooted in all our systems. For example, we are taught about indigenous communities in the past and never about them in the present. We hear very little about these communities that, for me, it feels as if they are as extinct. I mention this not to excuse people's behavior but as an example that all of us should (*shut up,*) listen and question how things are. Living under a settler colonialism system is no excuse to do nothing.

It saddens me that people continue to impose that we have to make our race "better" by living in and adopting western ways. This book excelled in talking about this issue and the consequences it brings.

My biggest problem with the book was the repetitive information. I felt that made the book, to me, very simplistic and slow-pace. I felt like the subjects dragged for too long..... From this book, I was expecting an answer to what the description state - "why western conservationism isn't working--and offers Indigenous models..." - but ended up having something different. My other problem was that this book was heaving on blaming as it was very discouraging. What I said is just how I felt about the book (I'm glad other people found it amazing and that we are all learning), and it saddens me that I gave it a bad rating.

[Isabel Beltran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It is hard to find a book about Indigenous peoples and environmentalism from Latin America. I loved how it included testimonies and direct conversations the author had with so many Indigenous women. I really enjoyed how it also did not romanticize Indigenous communities like other Indigenous environmental books I have read before. I recommend it to everyone. I cried while reading some of the stories included as it hits close to home. So many Indigenous peoples from Latin America will be able to relate to this book.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is Nonfiction. The author makes some valid points but what stood out the most was the ranting. And the narrator (who was not the author) had such sarcasm and disdain in her voice, by the end, I was just glad it was over. I felt like I was being yelled at even though my people are also her people. I kept wondering if she knew who her target audience was. It sounded more like she was preaching to the choir rather than raising awareness and throwing in some education.

Ultimately my biggest dislike was the blame game (and apparently everyone was to blame as well as everything) and at times this sounded like one of the politcal books I read from time to time where all the woes of the world came from the other guys. That is so not my favorite. It just makes the divide all that much bigger. This was 3 stars, but I think I just talked myself into 2.

[Maria Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

is an editor in the room with us

[Book Nerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I NEEDED in my life! I am planning to pursue environmental studies and I was missing Indigenous perspectives in my education and overall major. It does not surprise me that most bad reviews come from white people as I think the book calls for self reflection and individual work to undo systems that oppress Indigenous peoples. I think most us white people were "willing" to have conversations about race but not really take action on our words. I would recommend reading it especially if you are an environmental practitioner. This book is not a textbook so no, it will not go in depth to the textbook material of conservation. It also does not outline how white people can use Indigenous science as that is not the point of what the book is trying to make. I thinking many bad reviews are from readers who failed to understand the overall message of the book lol

[Anne · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Lots of people on Goodreads are saying “Fire the editor.” I researched the publishing company and there are no editors. The “editor” positions only choose manuscripts and sign contracts. It’s a shame this wasn’t picked up by a real publishing house. I would try it again with some cleaning up.

[Jessica Pond · Rating 2 out of 5]

**There aren’t really spoilers but I will use quotes so if you don’t want this book spoiled at all then don’t read**

This book started out great. She started by giving background about the hardships that indigenous people of Mexico and South America were facing and bringing in some of their environmental concepts and why those concepts aren’t taken seriously in todays society in relation to those hardships.

Hernandez says “An example I want to share that demonstrates how our Indigenous science is different is how we view invasive species. The western sciences teach us that invasive plants are pests, unwanted, or do not belong in this landscape. However, to us, invasive plants are displaced like many of us.”.

I personally have always taken the view that although some invasive species are bad, they aren’t all terrible and could actually be useful in certain contexts.

She also talks more about the classic construct of conservation as we know it today saying, “conservation is a western construct that was created as a result of settlers over exploiting indigenous lands, natural resources, and depleting entire ecosystems.”.

This quote really speak to me as I very much agree with it. If humans as a population were more sustainable then conservation would not be that big of an issue. That being said though, she calls conservation a western construct, which I do not believe it is. Conservation is something that needs to take place worldwide, it is not just the Americas that is struggling. Therefore, even if we were not overexploiting our lands here, that does not mean that countries in Asia or Europe wouldn’t be struggling like they are today.

It is later in this book where I started to see it take a turn that I did not like. After the half way mark, in my opinion, the author stopped focusing on conservation and started turning to blame. She focuses very heavily on colonization and colonialism as being issues and blames whiteness as the culprit. I know she is not necessarily wrong, but it is my opinion that when writing a book on an issue like conservation, that requires everyone’s attention and effort, we should not be discouraging entire groups of people. I do realize that racial issues need to be talked about, but in the case of this book, all conservation issues were dropped to speak about racism, which in that case then this book should have been marketed as one on race with a bit of conservation thrown in there, not the other way around. This book would have been much better if it was one that was focused on teaching other people about ways in which they can help by changing their thinking (which is what it was kind of about in the first half).

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book 5 stars, because I want to promote books that center indigenous voices and environmentalism but Fresh Banana Leaves was not executed as well as it could have been. Editing errors aside (other reviews touch enough on that) I felt like the description of the book was misleading.

I was expecting to learn more about what I, as a white person living on indigenous land, could do to “heal indigenous landscapes through indigenous sciences.” But I didn’t get that. I recognize it is not the responsibility of every POC to educate white people on what we need to do to support communities of color. However, based on the book description that’s what I was expecting. I was eager to learn how I could play an active role in decolonizing environmentalism but I don’t feel like I gained that knowledge. At the end of chapter 5 Dr. Hernandez asks reflective questions to urge us to think about how we can help indigenous communities. I just remember being like, what? That’s why I’m reading this book?

On a positive note, the personal anecdotes and references did make my blood boil, and I feel called to do more for indigenous communities. I just wish this book educated me more on how I could do that. For example, Dr. Hernandez talks about community based participatory research (CBPR) which is excellent, but I wanted more suggestions like that that weren’t limited to an academic setting. What can a “regular” person do to support indigenous people? That was the question I wanted answered and I feel like this book fell short when it could’ve been an invaluable resource.

I’m giving this book 4 stars because even though I was let down by some elements, I do believe sharing indigenous narratives is crucial, and I appreciate what Dr. Hernandez has done. I am choosing to ignore the choppiness, and occasional repetitiveness that made the book harder to read.

[Esther Cervantes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book delivers two important messages. Primarily, that Indigenous ways of learning and knowing differ from European-derived science, and that Indigenous science should be respected for its longevity, depth, adaptability, and place-specificity. Secondarily, that those who are most oppressed have the most to teach us, and the world has the most to gain in uplifting them.

I was very excited to find and read a book that starts with these broad premises and dives deep into them from an Indigenous perspective. This is not that book. This book starts with those ideas and takes them almost nowhere. Partly this is due to the apparent lack of an editor, both at the line level and at chapter/book level. The sentence-level writing is hard to parse, a combination of academic obfuscation and malapropisms. At the higher level, the text revolves and repeats far more than it expands. I gleaned a few new ideas and facts I didn't know already from the book, but it was a slog and hardly worth the payoff.

It's true that Hernandez doesn't directly romanticize the Indigenous cultures that she comes from. She calls out xenophobia in Mexico and the ways in which her cultures have internalized colonizer concepts of misogyny and queer-phobia. At the same time, the deepest she digs into the ways in which her cultures practice science (ostensibly the point of the book) is that they consider all natural phenomena to be their relatives. This is not revelatory; this is a sound bite and a t-shirt. Leaving it at that practically invites people who have no acquaintance with Indigenous science to romanticize and commodify it. Adding to the problem, Hernandez puts Desmond Tutu's quote about swapping the land for the Bible, along with less well attributed truisms, into the mouth of her wise grandmother; and she translates interviews with her father into English nearly literally, making him sound ignorant and fractured in ways I'm sure he didn't in the original. Both of these things further contribute to the tendency to cast her Indigenous relatives as Noble Savages.

To be clear, I do not believe these effects were Hernandez's intent. They are her result, though. I wanted so much more from this book, and I hated having to wade through so much unintentional ick to spot a bare handful of gems.

[Helena Schreder · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a PhD studying environmental fluid mechanics at UW I was very excited to read this book written by a PhD environmental science grad from UW. I think the content was there Dr. Hernandez was just failed by her editors. It was hard to get through. If I were better at reading books, I would have powered through it. But as my book reading rate is about one a year, I need to choose my books wisely. Perhaps when I regain my attention span I will pick it back up. I really did feel her stories on colonialism were valuable; in addition her vulnerable explanations on the spiritual connections she and her people have to plant-life. Overall, I'd put this on whoever her editor was. She has a wealth of knowledge and a perspective I have not heard nearly enough from so I will look forward to what she does next.

[Clayton Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5 stars, but I am rounding up. I loved CASTE and Warmth under other Suns. I was able to relate and connect well with the narrative and content. Braiding Sweetgrass and Moss were lyrical in their interweaving of indigenous ways of thinking and doing along with Western Science. This book, however, I just did not connect with the material. I found that the same thing was said innumerable times. And granted the root of the problem when talking about colonialism is usually the same, but it just was redundant to read the same paragraph of ideas a dozen times throughout a relatively short book. I was really excited when I saw that the author of the awesome and complex Disordered Cosmos was currently reading this. I googled it and immediately jumped it to the top of my TBR.

When I picked up this book, I thought that there would be the more foundational talk around the indigenous version of sustainable practices that makes the WEstern concept of conservation obsolete. I really wanted to hear more about "science". But I would say that this book was primarily words focussed more on the "isms". This is would be totally okay if it explained with more explicit examples on how indigenous achieve these actions. Maybe if I could engage in some dialogue around this book with someone, I might feel more value from it. So I will look for some people to share the ideas posted here. But I cannot say that I enjoyed this.

[Jules · Rating 1 out of 5]

To be honest, I couldn't really finish it. I read a third and them skimmed the rest. I was excited to read this book, but it was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a primer on specific indigenous epistemologies and ontologies, but it was not that. The descriptions of indigenous science were actually quite vague (e.g., indigenous people care for nature so nature cares for them, or indigenous science is in some way perfectly holistic).

Hernandez also claims at one point that she cannot speak for all indigenous people, but that's kind of what she seems to do at multiple points in the book (e.g., claiming that all indigenous cultures respect nature and never exploit animals).

I guess, other books have made similar arguments about settler colonialism and made them better, and the unique arguments and discussions Hernandez could have brought never really materialized; instead, the book gave a flat and so-generalized-it-became-meaningless description of indigenous science.

[Charlott · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Yes, under the lens of Western environmentalism, banana trees are an invasive species to my ancestral native lands. However, to us, bananas are not invasive; they are displaced relatives that have adapted well to our climates and are now incorporated into our traditional diets. Ultimately, the kinships and relationships we have developed with them have made them our relatives as well. All I can think of is that, like me and many Indigenous peoples in the diaspora, banana trees have also been displaced. We have been displaced from our native and ancestral lands and forced to adapt to our new environments and form new kinships with our new land."

Jessica Hernandez is a Maya Ch'orti' and Zapotec enviornmental scientest. In "Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Sciences" she draws on all her knowledge and experiences - and those of others - to write an equally complex as approachable book which takes on the climate crisis with all its implications. As Hernandez stresses throughout the book, the world needs to be seen and understood holistically and thus the "Fresh Banana Leaves" touches upon colonialism (and ecocolonialism in particular), war, natural disasters, co-option of Indigenous knowledge, racism, borders, genders, trauma, food security, capitalism, language loss and more.

I particularly loved how Hernandez interweaves her research and reflections with stories of her family (especially her father and grandmother) and interviews. There is a beautiful flow throughout this book and it is just incredibly rich with many layers. This book is great for every one interested in ecological justice, restoration (ot healing as Hernandez prefers) and the climate crisis (and shouldn't that be somehow all of us?).

"[W]e face the highest ecological debt, yet those who are responsible for what the climate change our planet is undergoing continue to profit and benefit from settler colonialism."

[Eilish · Rating 2 out of 5]

i wanted to like this soo bad, but it was just so disorganized. i think i was expecting something similar to Braiding Sweetgrass, but that wasn’t really what this book was

instead, i found it to mostly be about how indigenous voices, experience, and knowledge should be central in discussions about land use. however, the thesis kept jumping around and so did the content. in the chapter about indigenous food, the story suddenly switches to the Jan 6 Capitol Riots and how there can’t be a comparison between them and the Banana Republics of Latin American history. the sudden diversion to geopolitical content really caught me off guard.

as well, there are several grammatical errors and editing misses throughout the novel. especially in the first few chapters - there are several passages that are repeated word for word, oftentimes just a page apart. this made for a really confusing and disjointed argument.

unfortunately, all of this made the book hard to follow along. i found it really jarring at times and had to go back multiple times to reread passages to make sense of the narrative. i feel like this really needed another round of edits!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot of good, valuable information in this book, but the lack of editing makes it a difficult read, both on the basic prose level (words and sentences repeated) and on the level of the information provided (misattributed quotation, mixing up fair and free trade, describing England as an Eastern European nation).

[Gabby Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a lot of great points, and it's an excellent introduction to indigenous ways of knowing. However, the writing could have been a bit stronger and less repetitive.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fresh Banana Leaves offers a holistic view of Indigenous science, unpacking settler colonialism and its destruction. The author is a member of Maya Ch'orti' and Zapotec communities as well as holding a PhD in environmental science. She shares historical information, personal interviews and family history, and details of social, political, and environmental issues. The book demonstrates how Indigenous peoples are not the perpetrators of environmental destruction but face the most harm from those actions taken by others. She also examines how ecocolonialism leads to ecological grief that goes beyond economic loss: suffering from relationships lost with plants and animals, spiritual loss of cultural keystone species with connections to deities, and the sorrow of forced diaspora and separation from ancestral lands in the face of ecological and economic collapse.

Dr. Hernandez makes clear how the layers of privilege are different based on location, showing the fallacy of the monolithic "Latinx" identity as seen by white people in the United States; this group encompasses many different racial categories affecting status in Latin America, and nationalism creates arbitrary lines of separation, as well. The author emphasizes how Indigenous and Black people are the hardest hit by any of these distinctions, targeted in genocidal civil wars, decimated by increasing natural disasters caused by climate change, and violently oppressed for agitating against governmental violation of their rights. The author also urges readers to take a holistic view and consider how language and gender affect the multifaceted experiences of Indigenous peoples. She specifically touches on the way patriarchy has harmed the traditional role of muxes in Zapotec communities, a third gender that is targeted by homophobia introduced by colonizers.

Several Western systems are analyzed as sources of Indigenous and environmental suffering. For one, the author addresses the hypocritical circularity of the US arming and training the military of El Salvador against its revolting citizens (largely Indigenous peoples) and then refusing and abusing refugees from that same crisis. She describes how corporations continue to engage in land grabs to grow crops for export and invest in tourism projects that romanticize Indigenous groups and their ancient histories while actively harming those same groups in the present.

Science, and academia in general, also receive insightful and hard-hitting criticism. Dr. Hernandez discusses how conservation as a scientific field needs to acknowledge how colonialism makes these practices necessary and how it still informs methodology. Instead, scientists often hide behind a false idea of science as objective and infallible. She calls out "helicopter research," whereby a white scientist travels to an impoverished country and removes data for publication without involving the local population or benefiting them in any way, speaking over their voices. Sometimes these researchers acquire Indigenous knowledge and then receive credit for the "discovery." It furthers colonialism to view Indigenous communities as passive subjects of research rather than actively seeking their leadership and taking on a background role to provide support.

I took so many notes reading this book. The roughest draft of this review was over twice as long. I've cut it down because A) no one needs to know that many of my thoughts and B) I don't mean to make this review a shortcut instead of reading the book in its entirety and learning from the author herself. I have a lot of personal reflection to do as someone who benefits from a lot of privilege in a settler colonialist society. I also have more focused concerns to consider as a science teacher and a teacher for immigrants from Central America. I need to ponder how I present science lessons to students and if I am providing space to listen to their knowledge and experience rather than glorifying a Western science model. I also need to act on the author's points about how teachers assume students from Central America speak Spanish, erasing Indigenous languages and throwing up an additional colonialist language barrier between the student and communication at school.

[india torrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

insightful, inspiring, and activating. this book gave me a sense of connection of my indigenous mexican heritage that i've been so longingly looking for. the pages are filled with lessons from nature and the wisdom of an author whose lived experience offers so much more than traditional Western schooling.

love love love <3

[Katie Mercer · Rating 3 out of 5]

very good intro for people just getting their footing into decolonialty and botany. i just felt like it was mostly stuff i already knew and was written more like an academic essay then the personal narrative i was looking for. did love the authors integration of her fathers narrative in the book

[Isobel Dawson · Rating 2 out of 5]

i read this for class but all i can say is that her editor did her dirty… some really interesting ideas but it felt like groundhog day each time i turned the page.

[Zoë · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF about halfway through

There's something atrocious about realizing that a nonfiction you were looking forward to so much is bad. It's weirdly mortifying. Anyways, the introduction to this book I thought was great, but by the first chapter the cracks started to show. By the second chapter, I started to look up other reviews to see if I'm the only one having trouble with some of the choices in Fresh Banana Leaves (I am not). But by the fourth chapter, I've reached a breaking point.

Other reviewers have called out the lack of editing that shows and makes the structuring of information somewhat scatterbrained but also repetitive (sometimes the same sentence will be repeated almost verbatim), however I find that it gets much worse. I could have dealt with suboptimal plotting, but Hernandez confuses personal experience being an Indigenous person with knowledge about Indigenous communities and culture and that's something I simply cannot tolerate. There are multiple instances of misinformation that remain unchallenged because of such confusions coupled with the lacking structure. The author states that she is an environmental scientist and I would have loved to read a book about environmental sciences from an Indigenous perspective (in fact, that's what I thought this book was about) but instead Hernandez choses to talk about subjects that she's clearly not familiar with. Or, I should say, she's not familiar enough with them to either write a convincing argument (no less argumentative essay) or convey accurate information. Including her own perspective is completely valuable and enriching, but generalizing her perspective to signify all indigenous perspectives and then talking about subjects that she's not familiar with and simply imposing a superficial reading of the matters from her point of view is not.

I cannot stress enough that the poor writing/editing/structure in conjunction with a lack of understanding of certain topics has actually created a book that teaches false information. It is implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, conveying misinformation. And that is what made me stop reading. Poor editing I could have tolerated.

I feel like, if Hernandez had teamed up with another Indigenous author with knowlege about the cultural topics Hernandez is clearly interested in / expertice in indigenous studies (or if this book had, at least, been peer reviewed) this could have been an interesting read even if the title is misleading. As is, however, I would strongly encourage potential readers to look for another book.

[Zoë · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful introduction to decolonization in the environmental, climate, food, and racial justice spaces. I loved the weaving of Dr. Hernandez’s personal stories and interviews throughout, and I’m grateful that her work forces me to reckon with what it means for me, a white woman, to say that I’m practicing environmental justice in communities with many students in the Latin American Indigenous diaspora.

At the same time, the writing in this book feels incredibly repetitive, with sometimes entire sentences or paragraphs stating the same ideas back to back, or showing up in later chapters in nearly the exact same syntax. As noted by other reviews, I think a strong editor could have made all the difference.

5 star ideas, 2 star execution — still glad I read it though!

[Kaitlyn (ktxx22) Walker]

DNF at 25% this book is all over the place with points and directives. I assumed it would be an overview of things we should be doing to correct our relationship with the environment across the board and in many different areas…. But that’s not what this is. It’s a discussion of political things that have happened and why them not including indigenous voices is wrong. While I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. I didn’t go into reading this book with that being the outcome I wanted in this reading experience.

When I am feeling more radical/political I will come back to this but it’s 3 days before Christmas and i just want to fade into the sunset with books that don’t make me angry.

[Shae Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is 5-stars for me because I learned so much. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people in the realm of Western science who reject Indigenous science because they believe it is "subjective" or "invalid" when compared with Western science methods. If that’s you, I think that reading about Dr. Hernandez’ experience could help you to evaluate why you think that way, and realize that thinking that way contributes to systems of exclusion and oppression.