Kinship

This collection of essays is the second in the 5-volume series Kinship. Presented as "Place", the editors suggest that this book will be about situatedness and "crafting a deeper connection with earth's bioregions". Unlike the first volume, which brings together fascinating essays from many different perspectives and nations (albeit US-weighted), this collection of essays and poems is deeply flawed.

There are two main reasons for this. The first is that "place" seems to predominately mean "the USA" and more specifically mean "US border regions". This surely misses the point entirely, both because it considers place through enclosure only and because it leaves out almost all of the human-inhabited places in the world. The second (related) issue is that the authors, including those writing about "Indigenous experience", are mostly white and educated or working in the US education system. This is an obvious failing of the editors and seems a surprising oversight as so many writers worldwide could have contributed significantly to the idea of kinship with place, and have already done so in many better books.

Some of those flawed essays are good, but remain problematic in the overall collection. The only standout moments come from the brilliant poems of Craig Santos Perez and Sean Hill. A positive essay on generations of protest in the Ecuadorean Andes by Lisa María Madera is also a welcome piece of quality writing in this otherwise disappointing book.

Planet is the first of a 5-volume curated collection of essays and poems about kinship released by the Centre for Humans and Nature. As with many collections, it features a variety of writing, some strong and some not. The first volume is on "planet" and combines thoughts on this pale blue dot from thinkers, writers, artists, poets and philosophers.

Overall, the writing is of a very high standard and the collection is well presented. Standout essays include Andrew S. Yang's Kinshape, which is a conversetion with stardust as kin, via his mother. Co-editor Robin Wall Kimmerer's part-speculative fiction about humans being invited back into the family by other creatures that share this space is thoughtful and wonderful. Ceridwen Dovey's essay on giving rights to the moon raises fascinating questions and is written with a beautiful sense of care. However some of the essays fail to land, particularly the "celebrity" contribution of David Abram, which seems completely out of place and is very clumsy in its use of language. The poetry is also a mixed bag, with a few great pieces (Brenda Cardénas' piece on perspectives of life is tefrific).

There is a slant toward US-based voices in this first volume, which is a pity because it misses an opportunity to broaden the discourse. Despite these issues, the book is a great collection. And the design of the volumes is also worth noting as they are all beautiful objects, well designed and nicely packaged.