see chapter 1 ). W r i t i n g

Part 1 (50 points). Choose one of the quotations below; discuss how it relates to the author’s
overall position—how it is characteristic of their work—and make some specific connections to
at least two other people we have read in this part of the class. Please be very specific in all your
commentary.

Kohn: “Self is both the origin and the product of an interpretive process; it is a waypoint in
semiosis (see chapter 1). A self does not stand outside the semiotic dynamic as “Nature,”
evolution, watchmaker, homuncular vital spirit, or (human) observer. Rather, selfhood emerges
from within this semiotic dynamic as the outcome of a process that produces a new sign that
interprets a prior one. It is for this reason that it is appropriate to consider nonhuman organisms
as selves and biotic life as a sign process, albeit one that is often highly embodied and
nonsymbolic.” This quote is from the story “How Forests Think”

Part 2 (50 points). Choose one of the quotations below; discuss how it relates to the author’s
overall position—how it is characteristic of their work—and make some specific connections to
at least two other writers we have read in this part of the class. Please be very specific in all your
commentary.

Kimmerer: “From the viewpoint of a private property economy, the “gift” is deemed to be “free”
because we obtain it free of charge, at no cost. But in the gift economy, gifts are not free. The
essence of the gift is that it creates a set of relationships. The currency of a gift economy is, at its root, reciprocity. In Western thinking, private land is understood to be a “bundle of rights,”
whereas in a gift economy property has a “bundle of responsibilities” attached.”

This quote is fro the story “The gift of Strawberries”