Kinship

The final book in the 5-part series 'Kinship' is titled 'Practice'. The implication is that this volume will deal with how to practice kinship in real life scenarios. It comprises essays, articles and poems by different writers considering kinship from this angle. Like the other volumes, the focus is US-centric and the resultant contributions are a mixed bag. I really enjoyed some of the writing, particularly Trebbe Johnson's essay on coal and Alison Hawthorne Deming's poem about kinship with trees and crows. However, even these stronger works spoke little to the idea of 'practice', and other essays and writing seemed to miss the series' concepts altogether.

In the end the mixed bag is more miss than hit, and it was just an OK ending to a series of books that could have been so much better if they had been less volumes and more tightly edited. The result is an interesting failed experiment for me.

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.