I is for Indigenous Knowledge
Everyone who thinks they're better than a rock should be turned into one. Agree?
Happy 2022! We started the new year with a very thought provoking read and an even more interesting meet up with our fellow book club attendees. Our first book of the year was Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta. And what a book it was. It took a while to get into as the author’s way of storytelling massively differs from the way we write in western culture. Reading this book, at times, felt like being in the Truman Show. My entire world view was turned upside down and a few times I caught myself thinking ‘Everything we have been told is a lie.’ Now that sounds quite unsettling, but at the same time, actually liberating. Seeing the world through the eyes of an Indigenous person was enlightening, thought-provoking and surprising.
I write to provoke thought rather than represent fact, in a kind of dialogical and reflective process with the reader. […] Solutions to complex problems take many dissimilar minds and points of view to design, so we have to do that together, linking up with as many other us-twos as we can to form networks of dynamic interaction. I’m not offering expert answers, only different questions and ways of looking at things. While I’m good at stimulating connective thinking, I’m certainly no authority on any of the ideas in this book, and my point of view is marginal, even in my own community. But there is fertile ground at the margins. – p.19-20
If you’re just starting out with the topic of Indigenous Knowledge, check out our community Notion document – we especially recommend reading the essay ‘Returning the gift’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer. And if you feel called to add to the document, please do, it’s open to everyone.
This month’s bookclub take aways: Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta
According to the author and the culture he grew up in, there are five different ways of experiencing and seeing the world: kinship-mind, story-mind, dreaming-mind, ancestor-mind and pattern mind. The first four refer to relationships and connectedness, narrative, shared memory and sustainable knowledge systems. When we bring all of them together, pattern-mind comes into play and we are able to make accurate predictions and find solutions to complex problems.
Metaphors are important in indigenous culture. They help to tell a story and stories are more easily remembered than facts.
The aboriginal way of living, thinking and story-telling is non-linear. This reflects in the way the book is written and stories are told. It can be hard to wrap our minds around this, since we have been trained to think in a linear way.
We need to reconnect with our own ancestral knowledge. We never lose the memories, only mislay them. With a bit of thought and guidance, this information is within us.
Traditional systems of law: everyone is an idiot sometimes. Punishment is hard and swift, then forgotten. There is no criminal record.
Adolescence is an invention of western civilisation to delay development. In many indigenous cultures the transition between childhood and adulthood happens over the span of a few weeks or months.
“Some new cultures keep asking, Why are we here? It’s easy. This is why we’re here: We look after things on the earth and in the sky and the places in between.” p.96
Indigenous culture has methods to keep egos in check. ‘The understanding that we are no greater or lesser than a rock would certainly change things if a critical mass of people all came to it at once. Anyone who thinks they’re better than a rock should be turned into one - then they would find out they’re not that special, and they could finally be happy.’ p.35
A life without violence is an illusion. Violence is a part of life and if you are living a life entirely void of violence you can be assured that the violence is simply moved elsewhere (think about mass incarceration, animal farming, sweat shop conditions). Some of us are able to enjoy a violence-free life because the violence is happening elsewhere. In indigenous culture violence is supposed to be more evenly distributed.
Join the next bookclub: Garden Jungle or gardening to save the planet by Dave Goulson
Admittedly, we struggled a little bit with finding a good read for the letter J, when we stumbled upon this book by Dave Goulson.
The Garden Jungle is about the wildlife that lives right under our noses, in our gardens and parks, between the gaps in the pavement, and in the soil beneath our feet. Dave Goulson gives us an insight into the fascinating and sometimes weird lives of these creatures, taking us burrowing into the compost heap, digging under the lawn and diving into the pond. He explains how our lives and ultimately the fate of humankind are inextricably intertwined with that of earwigs, bees, lacewings and hoverflies, unappreciated heroes of the natural world. For anyone who has a garden (and even when you don’t), and cares about our planet, this book is essential reading.
Join our online discussion on the 15 of February at 7PM GMT – tickets via Eventbrite below 👇🏼
Community feature: Joshua Stehr
Every month we are highlighting a member of our community and what they are working on and interested in. This month we are highlighting Joshua Stehr who conducted a self-experiment at the end of last year on how to reduce his own environmental impact. Read more about it below:
“Towards the end of last year I started actively thinking about how to take more climate action. Much of my ongoing efforts are around finding a career and volunteering opportunities focused on this, but while I'm doing this, I wanted to reduce my own environmental impact too. A big factor in reducing the effects of climate change is behaviour change so what better way than to start with myself. I've managed to reduce my carbon footprint by at least a quarter and still finding areas I can make a difference, so I thought I'd share my process for others to learn from.”
Read the full article ‘I spent 2 months trying to reduce my impact on the climate. Here's what I've learned’
What made you join our book club?
“I was seeing the future bookclub from a few people and thought it sounded interesting but I always discovered it too late to have enough time to read the book. Lisa reached out to me after reading an article I wrote and said she'd love to have me join, so I went to a bookstore near me the day after and they had the book! I'm glad I did join because both the book and the discussions had some profound ideas and takeaways. It's highly likely I'll join the next one, even though I've already got so many books on my list to read!”
You can find Joshua on Linkedin. Drop him a message if you’d like a coffee and a chat!
Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter. If you want to join us for one of our upcoming events, make sure you follow us on Eventbrite or Meet Up. If you have any questions please add a comment to this post, DM or send us an email to hello@andthefuture.com
Lisa & Tash ✨