This collective extended reading list builds upon the Radical Herbalism Reading List compiled by erhan for Issue One of Wort Journal (Autumn ’23). It keeps the same category headings (see original list for fuller descriptions) with an extra ‘additional reading’ section at the end.
It is a live ongoing work and resource, compiled from community recommendations.
If you’d like to recommend a resource for inclusion click here! Please read the original reading list first to understand the kinds of resource that we are seeking and the subject area headings used.
Inclusion of a resource on this list does not indicate the full endorsement of Wort Journal or anyone involved with it! Not everything on this page has been read (/watched/listened to) in its entirety by us. As always, please approach any resources with a critical eye.
Alternative Histories of 'Western Medicine'
Resources which challenge the historical narratives of the “medical industrial complex that predominates today” that was built by colonialism through “violent means of cultural suppression, erasure and exploitation” or offer alternatives.
Decolonising Medicine
Resources that “challenge the thoughts, language, values and systems that derive from a colonial medical industrial complex”. Resources that contribute towards decolonising other fields of science (botany, psychology, environmentalism etc.) also welcome here.
- Wendy Makoons Geniusz and Annmarie Geniusz, Our Knowledge Is Not Primitive: Decolonizing Botanical Anishinaabe Teachings (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1999)
Leo Qawas: “A deep exploration from an Anishinaabe scholar and herbalist of the process of engaging with colonised ‘ethnobotany’ texts in order to return appropriated botanical knowledge to Anishinaabe communities.”
- Banu Subramaniam, Botany of Empire: Plant Worlds and the Scientific Legacies of Colonialism (Washington: University of Washington Press, 2024)
Recommended by Claudia Manchanda.
- Dr Henry Oakeley, Doctors in the medicinal garden: Plants named after physicians
(London: Royal College of Physicians of London, 2012)
- Dr Henry Oakeley, Doctors in the medicinal garden: Plants named after physicians
Anonymous: Remarkable, if only as a documentation of colonialism and empire. Whereas the Royal College of Physicians (where I came across this book) might delight in the content, we would read it in horror! It documents plants that are named after physicians – most clearly on account of their colonial exploits – for each plant saying where it was ‘found’ and telling the story of the person who ‘found’ it. A disturbing read!
Holistic Healing
“Resources that work to reintegrate our understanding of body, mind and spirit, and re-frame healing as something which inherently involves community and an awareness of an interconnectedness between ourselves, the earth and the greater than human beings that inhabit it.”
- Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Lama Rod Owens and Jasmine Syedullah, Ph.D., Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation (Random House, 2016)
Matilde Wyrdlea: “This book has been useful for me in finding spiritual and emotional routes towards inner peace that cohabit comfortably with activism and struggle.”
- Mary Siisup Geniusz with Wendy Makoons Geniusz and Annmarie Fay Geniusz, Plants Have So Much to Give us, All We Have to To is Ask: Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2015)
Leo Qawas: “A rich and beautiful written offering gathering the lifetime of traditional botanical teachings inherited by the author from her teacher, mashkikiiwikwe (medicine woman) Keewaydinoquay, with very many stories, recipes and accounts of plant kin from the Great Lakes region.”
Radical Herbalism in Practice
Resources that could help us to “change the culture around healing” and inform the “way we practice herbalism” to become “truly holistic”.
- Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba, Ch. 3 ‘Care is Fundamental’ and Ch. 8 ‘Hope and Grief Can Coexist’ in Let This Radicalize You: The Revolution of Rescue and Reciprocal Care (Chicago: Haymarket, 2023)
Leo Qawas: “Stories of mutual aid organising and community care in service to radical social change. These two chapters tell of local initiatives taken in the face of State neglect during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as other contexts of social injustice. They explore what it means in practice to work towards the reorganisation of our communities along lines of reciprocity and care.”
Additional Reading
Resources that do not fit into any of the above categories but are valuable or enjoyable for an ethically and politically sound practice.
- Jason Hickel, Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World (London: Penguin Random House, 2022)
SB: “The book is just one of many about the growing Degrowth movement, but very well written. It shows how Empire is totally linked with global economics and explains the economics of Degrowth. Whereas most people find it difficult to imagine the end capitalism or envision any alternative, this book actually offers an extremely viable – very simplistic but totally workable – model for going forwards. A fantastic read that gives hope.”