Growing Papaya Trees - by Jessica Hernandez (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Leading Binnizá and Maya Ch'orti' scientist Jessica Hernandez, PhD, weaves together Indigenous knowledge, environmental science, and personal family stories in her highly anticipated follow-up to the LA Times best-seller Fresh Banana Leaves.

Not every environmental problem is a result of climate change, but every environmental and climate change problem is a result of colonialism.

Dr. Jessica Hernandez offers readers an Indigenous, Global-South lens on the climate crisis, delivering a compelling and urgent exploration of its causes--and its costs. She shares how the impacts of colonial climate catastrophe--from warming oceans to forced displacement of settler ontologies--can only be addressed at the root if we reorient toward Indigenous science and follow the lead of Indigenous peoples and communities.

Growing Papaya Trees explores:

• Energy as a sociopolitical issue
• The interconnectedness of natural disasters, sociopolitical turmoil, and forced migration
• Our oceans, our forests, and our Indigenous futures
• Moving Indigenous science from mere acknowledgement into real action
• How to nourish Indigenous roots when displaced beyond borders

Dr. Hernandez asks: what does it mean to be Indigenous when we're separated from our lands? How do we nurture future generations knowing they, too, will have to live away from their ancestral places? She illuminates that cultures are not lost, even amid genocide, turmoil, war, and climate displacement--and shows us how to be better kin to each other against the ecological violence, colonial oppression, and distorted status quo of the Global North.

Review Quotes

"In Growing Papaya Trees, Jessica Hernandez makes the case that Indigenous science is the best way to challenge the current climate crisis. Through beautiful prose and storytelling based on her own Maya Ch'orti' and Zapotec people's experiences with settler colonialism, she argues that we need collaboration and solidarity from all Indigenous communities, whether on their homelands or displaced into diaspora, and it is through our collective strength that we can meet the challenges of our times. If you want to learn about the importance of Indigenous science and papaya trees to address the climate crisis produced by colonialism, this is a must-read."
--Kyle T. Mays (Black and Saginaw Chippewa), author of An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

"A critical and timely contribution to the discourse on how Indigenous land-based knowledge, relationships, and stewardship can address climate displacement. Hernandez weaves together realities of Indigenous displacement, marginalization, and ongoing impacts of colonialism with stories and teachings rooted in Indigenous resilience and solidarity. Her deep connection to and love for ancestral homelands infuses the book with an intimacy that is rare and powerful. The teachings embedded in the book are not only important for other Indigenous people and scholars, but are also critical for everyone who cares about our shared histories and futures."
--Styawat / Dr. Leigh Joseph, author of Held by the Land

"With Growing Papaya Trees, Dr. Hernandez breaks open discussions of diasporic Indigenous identity, shared histories, and climate displacement. Drawing from personal narratives and compelling research, Hernandez has provided an urgent second book that calls for both a keen eye on the past and solidarity in the present."
--Kinsale Drake, author of The Sky Was Once a Dark Blanket

"Transported by stories that remind us that the Land remembers, Dr. Hernandez weaves tales that carry ancestral wisdom--guiding us toward collective survival, healing, and belonging. This book is a prayer, a balm, and a call to return to each other and to the Earth. At a time when our communities are rising against violence and erasure, these stories of migration, sacredness, and resistance are more vital than ever."
--Céline Semaan-Vernon, author of A Woman Is a School

About the Author

JESSICA HERNANDEZ, Ph.D., is an Indigenous scholar, scientist, and community advocate based in the Pacific Northwest. She has an interdisciplinary academic background ranging from marine sciences to forestry. Her work is grounded on her Indigenous cultures and ways of knowing that are rooted from El Salvador (Maya Ch'orti') and Oaxaca, Mexico (Zapotec). She advocates for food, climate, and environmental justice through her scientific and community work and strongly believes that Indigenous sciences can heal our Indigenous lands. She was raised in South Central Los Angeles and in 2020, she became the first alum from her high school to receive and complete a doctoral degree. She is the founder of Pina Soul, SPC, an environmental consulting and artesanias hybrid business that promotes and supports environmental sustainability and conservation among Black and Indigenous communities.