Tracing Re-embodiment – Disentanglement / Re-embodiment

We live in a time of crisis. If we do not address climate change, the world as we know it will end. The global rise of fascism threatens hard-earned victories for equity in race, gender, and sexual orientation. Staggering wealth inequality ensures that ruling elites will continue to manipulate the state for their own benefit. We are powerless watching the cycle of War and Genocides before eyes. The patriarchal promise of rule by the strong and eternal expansion and “progress” is at an end.

We need to do something now. We need a radical shift from a dominating, exploitative, patriarchal structured society to an egalitarian, nonhierarchical society based on shared values of respect (humans and nature), community, connectedness, compassion, and reciprocity. This requires reimagining/rethinking organizational domination systems (political, economic, social, and spiritual) by challenging and transforming deeply ingrained cultural and social norms, and creating new systems that prioritize gender equity and non-discrimination and strives for equal rights and opportunities for all individuals, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.

Embodying equality is an ongoing process that requires a comprehensive and multifaceted approach involving individuals, communities, institutions, and governments. It involves a commitment to dismantling systemic barriers and promoting a society where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive.

For the last several years, I have researched and explored Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic Fiction, Utopian Societies, Indigenous Societies, Modern Matriarchal Studies, the Maternal Gift Economy, and other models of post-Capitalist Economies in an attempt to re-imagine a more equitable society unencumbered by patriarchal power and domination.

Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

DYSTOPIC FICTION can offer valuable insights and warnings about the consequences of inequality and the importance of fostering more just and equitable communities. They can indirectly offer perspectives into the importance of equality and the potential consequences of its absence. Here are some ways dystopic fiction can contribute to our understanding of egalitarian societies:

Warning against inequality: Dystopian stories often depict extreme forms of social inequality, where a privileged few enjoy immense wealth and power while the majority suffers. This can serve as a warning about the dangers of unchecked social and economic disparities, emphasizing the importance of creating more egalitarian systems to prevent such dystopian scenarios.
Exploration of power dynamics: Dystopian fiction frequently delves into the abuse of power by authoritarian regimes or elite groups. By doing so, these narratives highlight the risks associated with concentrated power and the need for systems that distribute power more equitably to prevent abuses.
Examining the consequences of discrimination: Many dystopian worlds showcase the consequences of discrimination based on factors such as gender, race, or socio-economic status. These narratives can shed light on the destructive impact of systemic discrimination and the benefits of fostering inclusive and egalitarian societies.
Social commentary: Dystopic fiction often serves as a form of social commentary, reflecting on contemporary issues and projecting them into exaggerated future scenarios. By depicting societies where equality is lacking, these stories prompt readers and viewers to reflect on the flaws and inequalities present in their own societies.
Inspiration for social change: Dystopic fiction can inspire individuals and communities to work towards more egalitarian societies by illustrating the potential pitfalls of complacency. It encourages critical thinking about existing structures and motivates people to advocate for positive change.
Exploration of resistance: Many dystopian narratives focus on characters or groups resisting oppressive systems. This exploration of resistance can inspire discussions about activism, the fight for justice, and the role of individuals in shaping more egalitarian societies.
Ethical considerations: Dystopian fiction often raises ethical questions about the choices societies make and the values they prioritize. This can encourage readers and viewers to contemplate the ethical dimensions of social structures, fostering a deeper understanding of the principles that underpin egalitarian societies.

In summary, while dystopic fiction may not directly depict utopian or egalitarian societies, it can offer valuable insights and warnings about the consequences of inequality and the importance of fostering more just and equitable communities.

Most interested in the work of Octavia Butler, a highly acclaimed science fiction writer known for her insightful exploration of societal issues, including patriarchy. Her works often challenge and deconstruct traditional power structures, providing readers with a nuanced understanding of patriarchy and its effects.

Complex Power Dynamics: Butler’s narratives frequently delve into the intricate power dynamics within societies. She explores how patriarchy operates not only as a system that oppresses women but also as a complex web of power relations that affect various individuals and groups differently.

Butler’s works often incorporate intersectional perspectives, considering how factors such as race, class, and gender intersect to shape individuals’ experiences within patriarchal systems. This intersectional approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of how patriarchy affects different groups in distinct ways.

Survival and Agency: In many of Butler’s stories, characters navigate oppressive patriarchal systems and find ways to assert their agency. These narratives emphasize the resilience and strength of individuals, particularly women, in the face of systemic oppression.

Reproduction and Control: Butler’s exploration of reproduction within the context of patriarchy is a recurring theme. Works like “Parable of the Sower” and “Kindred” examine how control over reproduction can be a tool of patriarchal dominance, illustrating the ways in which power is exerted over women’s bodies.

Alternative Societal Models: Butler often imagines alternative societies or futures that challenge traditional patriarchal norms. For example, in her “Patternist” series, she explores a telepathic society where power dynamics differ from conventional structures. These alternative models encourage readers to question and reimagine existing social norms.
Ethical Considerations: Butler’s works prompt readers to reflect on the ethical implications of patriarchal systems. By depicting characters grappling with moral dilemmas within oppressive contexts, she encourages readers to consider the ethical dimensions of patriarchy and the choices individuals make in such environments.
The Fragility of Power: Butler’s narratives also highlight the fragility of patriarchal power. Whether through environmental challenges, social upheavals, or resistance movements, her stories often depict the vulnerability of systems built on the oppression of certain groups.
Learning from History: In “Kindred,” Butler addresses the legacy of slavery and its impact on contemporary society. Through time travel, the protagonist confronts the historical roots of patriarchal structures, illustrating how understanding history is crucial for challenging and dismantling oppressive systems.

In essence, Octavia Butler’s works serve as a thought-provoking lens through which readers can examine patriarchy, its multifaceted nature, and the possibilities for resistance and change. Her narratives encourage critical reflection on power, gender, and societal structures, fostering a deeper understanding of the complexities inherent in patriarchal systems.

DYSTOPIC/POST-APOCALYPTIC FICTION BOOK LIST

Lilith’s Brood by Octavia Butler
1. A collection of three works (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago) that explore themes of sexuality, gender, race, and species. The trilogy parallels the story of African slaves in America and the conflict that later generations of African Americans feel regarding their integration into American society.
Parable of the Sower – Octavia Butler
1. A 1993 speculative fiction novel set in a post-apocalyptic Earth heavily affected by climate change and social inequality. The novel follows Lauren Olamina, a young woman who can feel the pain of others and becomes displaced from her home. Characters joining her on her journey north and learn of a religion she has discovered and titled Earthseed.
2. “In 2014 I went back to the library and encountered Octavia Butler’s ‘Parable of the Sower,’ a sci-fi novel written in 1993 imagining a 2020 where society has largely collapsed from climate change and growing wealth inequality. Butler’s heroine, the 17-year-old Lauren, has ‘hyperempathy’ – she feels, quite literally, other people’s pain. This feminine gift and curse uniquely prepared her to survive the violent attack on her community in Los Angeles and successfully encourage a small tribe north to begin again from seeds she has saved from her family’s garde. Butler felt to me like a lighthouse blinking from an island of understanding way out at sea. I had no idea how to get there, but I knew she had found something life saving. She had found a form of resistance. Butler and other writers like Ursula Le Guin, Toni Morrison, and Margaret Atwood did not employ speculative fiction to colonize other planets, enslave new life-forms, or extract alien minerals for capital gains only to have them taken at gunpoint by A.I. robots. These women used the tenets of genre to reveal the injustices of the present and imagine our evolution.” -Brit Marling
3. “I don’t want to be the dead girl, or Dave’s wife. But I don’t want to be a strong female lead either, if my power is defined largely by violence and domination, conquest and colonization. Sometimes I get a feeling of what she could be like. A truly free woman. But when I try to fit her into the hero’s journey she recedes from the picture like a mirage. She says to me: Brit, the hero’s journey is centuries of narrative precedent written by men to mythologize men. Its pattern is inciting incident, rising tension, explosive climax and denoument. What does that remind you of? And I say, a male orgasm. And she says: Correct. I love the arc of male pleasure. But how could you bring me into being if I must satisfy the choreography of his desire only? And I say: Good on you. But then how do I bring you into being? Then I hear only silence.” -Brit Marling
Parable of the Talents – Octavia Butler
1. A 1998 science fiction novel told from the points of view of Lauren Oya Olamina, her daughter Larkin Olamina/Asha Vere, and Lauren’s husband Taylor Franklin Bankole. Set five years after Parable of the Sower, Lauren has founded a new community called Acorn centered around her religion, Earthseed, which is predicated on the belief that humanity’s destiny is to travel beyond Earth and live on other planets in order for humanity to reach adulthood.
Wild Seed – Octavia Butler
1. Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex or design. He fears no one until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu is a shapeshifter who can absorb bullets and heal with a kiss and savage anyone who threatens her. She fears no one until she meets Doro. Together they weave a pattern of destiny (from Africa to the New World) unimaginable to mortals.
The Dispossessed – Ursula Le Guin
1. A 1974 anarchist utopian science fiction novel that explores themes of anarchism and revolutionary societies, capitalism, utopia, and individualism and collectivism. Set on the twin inhabited worlds of Tau Ceti (Anarres and Urras), The Dispossessed alternates between the two planets and between the present and the past, and features the development of the mathematical theory underlying a fictional ansible, a device capable of faster-than-light communication.
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
1. 1969 science fiction novel set in a fictional Hainish universe. The novel follows the story of Genly Ai, a human native of Terra, who is sent to the planet of Gethen as an envoy of the Ekumen, a loose confederation of planets. Ai’s mission is to persuade the nations of Gethen to join the Ekumen, but he is stymied by a lack of understanding of their culture. Individuals on Gethern are ambisexual, with no fixed sex; this has a strong influence on the culture of the planet, and creates a barrier of understanding for Ai.
Herland – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
1. Utopian novel from 1915 that describes the isolated society composed entirely of women, who bear children without men. The result is an ideal social order: free of war, conflict, and domination.
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
1. 1992 novel styled as a mediation on queer ideologies, the novel explores themes of sexuality, gender, illusion, and humanity, as well as virology. Griffith examined whether a world run by women would be a gentler or better one. It is the story of Marghe Taishan, an anthropologist and employee of a government agency, the Settlement and Education Councils (SEC). She is sent as an SEC representative to the planet Jeep
The Power by Naomi Alderman
1. The world is a recognizable place: there’s a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new forces takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power: they can cause agonizing pain and even death.
Woman World by Aminder Dhaliwal
1. Started first as a biweekly web comic, the novel tells the story of Woman World that rises out of society’s ashes after a birth defect wipes out the planet’s entire population of men. It is infectiously funny as it follows the rebuilding process, tracking a group of women who have rallied together under the flag of “Beyonce’s Thighs.”
The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri Tepper
1. Women rule in Women’s Country. Women live apart from men, sheltering the remains of civilization. They have cut themselves off with walls and by ordinance from marauding males. Waging war is all men are good for. Men are allowed to fight their barbaric battles among themselves, garrison against garrison. For the sake of his pride, each boy child ritualistically rejects his mother when he comes of age to be a warrior. But all the secrets of civilization are strictly the possession of women. Naturally, there are men who want to know what the women know. And when Stavia meets Chernon, the battle of the sexes begins all oer again.
Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Sahkawat Hossain
1. In one of the first science-fiction utopian stories and one of the first feminist utopias, Sultana, a Muslim woman living in contemporary India, falls asleep and wakes up in a transformed future world: a utopia in which men rather than women are relegated to the domestic sphere. Women, now free to explore the outside world at will and pursue an education, run a peaceful and just society, using scientific principles to harvest energy from the sun and live in harmony with nature.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
1. The novel explores a broad range of issues relating to power, gender, and religious politics. After a staged terrorist attack kills the President and most of Congress, the government is deposed and taken over by the oppressive and all-controlling Republic of Gilead. Offred, now a Hanmaid serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name. Despite the danger, Offred learns to navigate the intimate secrets of those who control her every move, risking her life in breaking the rules in hopes of ending this oppression.
Octavia’s Brood by adrienne maree brown
1. Anthology of short stories to explore the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change. The visionary tales of Octavia’s Broos span genres–sci-fi, fantasy, horror, magical realism– but all are united by an attempt to inject a healthy dose of imagination and innovation into our political practice and to try on new ways of understanding ourselves, the world around us, and all the selves and worlds that could be.

Utopian Societies

Historically UTOPIAN SOCIETIES, whether real or imagined, can offer insights into the aspirations, challenges, and lessons associated with the pursuit of egalitarian ideals. While not all historical utopian experiments have been successful or sustainable, they can still provide valuable lessons for understanding the complexities of creating more equitable and just societies. Here are some key takeaways from historic utopian societies:

Idealism vs. Practicality: Many historic utopian communities were founded on idealistic principles, often emphasizing communal living, shared resources, and equality. However, the tension between these idealistic goals and the practical challenges of implementation is a common theme. This teaches us about the importance of balancing ideals with pragmatic considerations when striving for egalitarian societies.
Community Cooperation: Utopian societies often prioritize communal cooperation over individual competition. Studying these communities can offer insights into the dynamics of communal living, resource sharing, and collaborative decision-making, providing lessons for fostering a sense of shared responsibility in society.
Challenges of Human Nature: Some historic utopian experiments faced challenges related to human nature, such as conflicts, power struggles, and the difficulty of maintaining collective harmony. Understanding these challenges can inform discussions on the psychological and social factors that impact the feasibility of egalitarian societies.
Social Experimentation: Utopian communities have historically served as laboratories for social experimentation. Even if these experiments were not always successful in the long term, they demonstrate the value of trying new approaches to social organization and governance. Such experimentation can inspire ongoing efforts to innovate and improve social structures.
Role of Leadership: The role of leadership in utopian societies varies. Some communities embraced egalitarian leadership structures, while others maintained hierarchical systems. Examining the role of leadership can provide insights into the dynamics of authority and decision-making within the context of egalitarian ideals.
Economic Models: Historic utopian societies often experimented with alternative economic models, such as communal ownership of property and resources. Studying these models can contribute to discussions on economic equality, resource distribution, and sustainable practices.
Social and Cultural Diversity: Utopian communities have explored different approaches to handling social and cultural diversity. Some embraced inclusivity, while others struggled with issues of exclusivity or assimilation. Understanding how these communities address diversity can inform contemporary discussions on inclusion and cultural pluralism.
Education and Ideological Transmission: Many utopian societies placed a strong emphasis on education as a means of transmitting their ideologies and values to future generations. Examining their educational practices can offer insights into the role of education in shaping the values of a society and promoting egalitarian ideals.
Legacy and Influence: The legacy of historic utopian societies, whether in the form of enduring communities or influential ideas, can teach us about the lasting impact of efforts to create more egalitarian societies. Even if a utopian experiment did not succeed in its original form, it may have influenced subsequent movements or inspired new ways of thinking about social organization.

In summary, the study of historic utopian societies provides a rich source of lessons for those interested in creating more egalitarian communities. While not all aspects of these experiments may be directly applicable to contemporary societies, their successes and failures offer valuable insights into the challenges and possibilities of pursuing egalitarian ideals.

UTOPIAN SOCIETIES BOOK LIST

Everyday Utopia by Kristen Ghodsee
1. Everyday Utopia whisks you away on a tour through history and around the world to explore those places that have boldly dared to reimagine how we might live our daily lives: from the Danish cohousing communities that share chores and deepen neighborly bonds to matriarchal Colombian ecovillages where residents grow all their own food; and from Connecticut, where new laws make it easier for extra “alloparents” to help raise children not their own, to China, where planned microdistricts ensure everything is a busy household might need is nearby.
Applied Utopia by Slow Factory
1. A book of compiled interviews, essay, and musings on how we can begi working towards Utopia including contributions from designers, authors, scientists, and poets beginning with the radical principle–we get further, faster by aiming for an idealized future rather than sluggish, incremental change.
The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Vision of a Wildly Better Future by Alexandra Brodsky
1. More than fifty cutting-edge feminist writers invite us to imagine a world of freedom and equality in which: an abortion provider reinvents birth control, the economy values domestic work, a teenage rock band dreams up a new way to make music, the Constituion is re-written with women’s rights at the fore, and the standard for good sex is raised with a woman’s pleasure in mind. The Feminist Utopia Project challenges the status quo that accepts inequality and violence as a give, “offering playful, earnest, challenging, and hopeful versions of our collective future in the form of creative nonfiction, fiction, visual art, poetry, and more”.
Practical Utopias by Margaret Atwood
1. 8-week experience with the author on collectively designing practical utopias asking the questions: what sort of homes will we live in? What would we eat? Can we do better than past attempts at utopia?

Modern Matriarchal Studies

Matriarchies are not just a reversal of patriarchy, with women ruling over men – as the usual misinterpretation would have it. Matriarchies are mother-centered societies, they are based on maternal values: care-taking, nurturing, motherliness, mutual support, peace building by negociation etc., which holds for everybody: for mothers and those who are not mothers, for women and men alike. Matriarchal societies are consciously built upon the maternal values and motherly work, and this is why they are much more realistic than patriarchies. They are, on principle, need-oriented and not power-oriented. Their precepts aim to meet everyone’s needs with the greatest benefit. So, in matriarchies, motherhood – which originates as a biological fact – is transformed into a cultural model.

This is the subject of Modern Matriarchal Studies, which investigates and presents matriarchal societies in past and present found all over the world. Contrary to common belief, none of these is a mere reversal of patriarchy. Rather, they are all gender-egalitarian societies, and most of them are fully egalitarian. This means they have no hierarchies, classes nor domination of one gender by the other. With matriarchal cultures, equality means more than just a levelling of differences. Natural differences between the genders and the generations are respected and honoured, but they never serve to create hierarchies, as is common in patriarchy. The different genders and generations have their own dignity, and through complementary areas of activity, they function in concert to one another. This can be observed on all levels of society: the social level, the economic level, the political level and the areas of their worldviews and faiths.

It is becoming increasingly clear that this radically different cultural model of matriarchy will have great significance for the future of women and mothers, and of humankind in general. Therefore, I would like to make suggestions for new mother-centered and egalitarian societies to explain what new matriarchal societies could look like. Of course, we cannot imitate traditional matriarchal societies, but we can gain much stimulation and insights from them, which – unlike abstract utopias – have been lived over millennia. For all, who are looking to implement new matriarchal patterns, my suggestions can be the starting point. It needs a clear vision which can give a clear guidance to make the subsequent practice lasting and powerful.

At the social level, the model of matriarchy means escaping the increasing fragmentation of society, which drags human beings down into a state of separation and loneliness, and renders them sick and destructive. Rather, it means developing structures that foster various types of affinity, or intentional, communities, such as communes, alliances of neighboring communities, and networks. Affinity communities, however, are not created from mere communities of interest – entities that rapidly come together and quickly fall apart. Rather, affinity communities arise from a spiritual-intellectual common ground, through which a symbolic clan develops, resulting in a group that is more deeply connected than a mere community of interest.

The matriarchal principle here is that such affinity groups are generally initiated, supported and led by women. The determining criteria are the needs of women and children, who are the future of humanity, rather than the power-and-virility aspirations of men. In the new matri-clans men will be fully integrated, but according to a different value system, that is, one based on reciprocal care and love, rather than on power.

At the economic level, further increase in large-scale industry, in expanding military, and in so-called “standard of living” would not be possible, considering the danger of complete destruction of the biosphere, of the life on earth. Here the perspective of alternative, local and regional subsistence economy arises, for the subsistence perspective means economic independence of the people. Subsistence entities engage in self-sufficient and independent activities in which quality of life takes precedence over quantity.

This does not only mean doing local gardening and agriculture, but also fostering regional communication, trade, technology and arts. Even producing high technology is possible on the regional level, if the monopolizing by the transnational corporations will be finished. These corporations try to make the peoples of the world dependent not only on their technologies, but also on the very basis of life, which is water and food. This must definitely come to an end!

Regionalization of agriculture, trade, etc. for the benefit of women and their families or clans is a matriarchal principle, because they are the basis of human life on earth.

At the level of political decision-making, the matriarchal consensus principle is basic for a truly egalitarian society. It can be practiced here and now, immediately and everywhere. It is the inspiring stimulus for creating any matriarchal community. It establishes a balance between women and men, and also between generations, as the elderly as well as the youth are able to have their say. In addition, it is really the basis of democracy, as it manifests what formal democracies promise but fail to deliver.

According to this principle, the small units of the new matri-clans are the actual decision makers. All the alternative movements mentioned above try to practice this principle more or less, and they have gained lots of experience in this way. To implement the consensus principle in future means to develop a system of councils, smaller and broader, which are all interconnected to make decisions on the communal, local and regional levels. The consensus principle cannot be practiced beyond the region, but in this vision independent, flourishing regions remain the political goal.

At the spiritual-cultural level, it is mandatory that all hierarchical religions with belief in transcendent divinities and claims of absolute thruth – which have deeply debased the earth, humanity, and especially women – must be rejected. Rather, we are looking at a new sacralization of the world, consonant with the matriarchal perspective that the entire world and all what it includes is divine. This leads to freely and creatively honoring and celebrating life and the visible world. In this way, matriarchal spirituality pervades everyday life and becomes a normal part of it.

-Heide Goetner-Abendroth

“Evidence of matriarchy had always existed in Western chronicles, albeit scattered or hidden amid other ethnographic tidbits, all of them filtered heavily through the androcentric lens of Christian missionaries or European travelers. Most of these old European sources were either puzzled or horrified by women-led cultures, having had nothing to attach them to but scary stories from Herodotus about the ferocious Amazons as “men-slayers” or the Christian theological depictions of sinful Eve, resulting in the “burning times” (witch hunts). Moving out from Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, especially into Africa and the Americas, home to many matriarchal cultures, was very unsettling to the patriarchal paradigm of Europe. Until quite recently, this culture shock combined with colonialism to ensure that scholarship on matriarchy was crafted exclusively by elite, Western scholars, nearly all of them male and coming from nothing remotely resembling a matriarchal culture. Scholars in the 19th century were all infiltrated by the unilinear, universal evolution theory, as a part of European American colonialism, sporting racist and sexist roots. These disabilities distorted comprehension of the matriarchal form of society, allowing Western scholars either to dismiss it outright as a fantasy or to portray it crudely, as a wicked, Amazonian domination of men. This background left enduring marks on scholarship around matriarchy until new interest was piqued among German and American scholars in the 19th century, moving thought from the Amazonian conception to the definition of matriarchy as a “mother right.” These scholars remained mired, however, in the racist and sexist premises of European colonialism, well into the 20th century. As colonial Eurocentrism lifted in the mid- to late 20th century, scholars from non-Western, matriarchal cultures worldwide began chiming in on the conversation, to revamp old ideas together with Western female scholars. The “maternal values” in matriarchal studies do not indicate Western sentimentalism, but principles formulated by Indigenous, matriarchal societies themselves, in their sayings (e.g., Minangkabau) and in their social rules (e.g., Iroquois), based on the prototype of Mother Nature, as conceptualized in mythology, proverbs, songs, etc. Collating all the evidence of non-Western and Western 21st-century scholarship, matriarchy is defined here as mother-centered societies, based on maternal values: equality, consensus finding, gift giving, and peace-building by negotiations. Gift economies, defined by modern matriarchal studies as a transitive relation in closed communities, is a core concept of all matriarchies. The result is a gender-egalitarian society, in which each gender has its own sphere of power and action. All these societies are characterized by matrilineality, matrilocality, and women as keepers of the land and distributors of food, based on a structured gift economy. As derived from inductive studies of singular matriarchal societies and in collaboration with Indigenous scholars writing on their own communities, the current definition of matriarchy is a mother-centered, gender-egalitarian society that practices the gift economy. Modern matriarchal studies primarily assesses the patterns of those cultures, past and present, in their unique displays of gender egalitarianism and generally social egalitarianism.”

MATRIARCHAL STUDIES BOOK LIST

Matriarchal Societies: Studies on Indigenous Cultures Across the Globe by Heide Goettner-Abendroth
1. This book presents the results of the author’s pioneering research in the field of modern matriarchal studies, based on a new definition of matriarchy as true gender-egalitarian societies. Accordingly, matriarchal socieeties should not be regarded as mirror images of patriarchal ones, as they have never needed patriarchy’s hierarchical structures of domination. On the contrary, matriarchal patterns are socially egalitarian, economically balanced, and politically based on consensus decisions.
Matriarchal Societies of the Past and the Rise of Patriarchy by Heide Goettner-Abendroth
1. This book is about re-writing the history of cultures from a non-patriarchal perspective, bringing the forgotten matriarchal epoch to light again. This is the author’s background for re-examining the history of cultures. She criticizes the patriarchal prejudices which abound in archaeological interpretation, and their blindness to the great variety of human social forms. By going deeper into this material she is able to develop a completely different picture of the earliest cultural epochs, which were decisively formed by women, motherhood and maternal values. Additionally, she gives a logical and detailed explanation for the rise of patriarchy, which is based on archaeological finds and not on speculation and, therefore, has a high degree of validity.
Societies of Peace: Matrirachies Past, Present, and Future by Heide Goettner-Abendroth (2 essays)
1. This book celebrates women’s largely ignored and/or invisible contributiuion to culture by exploring matriarchal societies that have existed in the past and that continue to exist today in certain parts of the world. The book presents these largely misunderstood societies, both past and present, to the wider public, as alternative social and cultural models that promote trust, mutuality, and abundance for all.

The Maternal Gift Economy

(Matriarchal Studies Conference, St Gallen, Switzerland, May 14, 2011) By Genevieve Vaughan

Back in the 1960’s I had already realized that the market itself was the problem not just capitalism. In the 70’s and early 80’s I began to think that an economy without markets like the indigenous people practiced, and like other women and I were practicing in our families, was a gift economy and I started trying to promote it. In the early days of the 80’s no one was interested or even understood what I was saying but over the years interest in a free economy has grown among people seeking alternative ways of living and the internet has made the term ‘gift economy’ almost a household word. There are many examples of the gift economy, in mothering, in subsistence economies, which Veronika talks about, in movements for free stores, and free schools and on the internet, which allows a way of collaborating and of forming groups in a horizontal many-tomany way. Wikipedia is a good example of the internet gift economy in action. Couch surfing is another. Most of these initiatives fill in gaps in the market economy though, and to a certain extent they rely on it. Widespread commerce in computer hardware is necessary for wikipedia to exist and couch surfing requires not only the computer but the ability to use commercial means to travel from place to place. Still these new initiatives are a very positive development because they show that a different paradigm of behavior is possible and that this paradigm brings about a positive change in relationships among people. As long as it does not threaten mainstream economics too much, the gift economy can spread everywhere. The accessibility of free music on the internet has threatened the corporate music business world however. One CEO I heard on tv said despairingly “We have done everything we can to beat them, but you can’t compete with free”. Actually the market is limited and floating on a sea of gifts. As someone said in the recent movie Us Now, the kind of Capitalism we are living in has only really been so extreme during the last century. Before there were more relations based on trust, outside the market. This economic system, Patriarchal Capitalism, or Capitalist Patriarchy is limited in time but also geographically and culturally. The gift economy still exists in indigenous and matriarchal societies though it is largely unrecognized or discredited as traditional or primitive by the mainstream people who are usually telling the tale. I believe the gift economy also exists in the West in the so called domestic sphere, in the free housework and childcare done mainly by women. In fact free work is gift work, given to satisfy needs. This is subsistence work as Veronika says, or what some economists call ‘provisioning’ . We should consider it not just as an add on to the market economy, a sort of instinctual behavior. Instead unilateral giving is a mode of distribution, an actual economy of its own that has been largely the province of women, and more specifically of mothers. In fact this maternal economy is the basic human economy from which other economies derive and of which they are elaborations. By considering gift giving as an economy on its own, we can re frame the oppression of women as caused by a struggle between kinds of economies. We have recently come out of the struggle between the economies of Communism and Capitalism but a more fundamental distinction and more universal struggle continues to exist between the economy of gift giving and the economy of the market. There are two main oppressive factors causing this struggle. One is patriarchy and the other is market exchange. Patriarchy is the hierarchical control of giving (and of the givers) mainly by men. Exchange is the denial and cancellation of gifts through requiring a quantitative equivalent in return. Patriarchal capitalism is the combination of patriarchy and exchange so that gifts are controlled and leveraged through the market mechanisms, re named as profit, accumulated and re invested in order to leverage and take still more gifts. The values of male dominance have been abstracted and generalized and used to motivate market exchange and capitalist accumulation for hegemonic power. Another advantage of considering mothering as economic is that we can attribute a super structure to it. That is we can see that the values of direct giving and receiving: other orientation, mutuality and trust come from a practical life sustaining interactive behavior rather than from a specific innate moral sense. One of the great weapons that Patriarchal Capitalism has for dominating the gift economy is its ability to propose its own superstructure not only by creating an ethics based on the market but also by imposing its own epistemology. In this way it eliminates mothering from consciousness, not only because mothers are rarely seen in positions of patriarchal power but because mothering is not used as an interpretative key for understanding the way we know the world. Sometimes women and mothers are not even seen. This state of denial is so strong that it allows a well known social philosopher like Pierre Bourdieu to write a whole book criticizing patriarchy, using the Kabyle culture as his main example, without taking any account of the complex culture of the Kabyle women, which is so well described by our own Malika Grasshof in her books. That is Bourdieu writing against patriarchy gives us a stunning example of patriarchal blindness. I continue to be surprised by how wide the gap is between patriarchal capitalist superstructural epistemology and a hidden mother based gift economy and epistemology. And actually this patriarchal epistemology and ethics are part of the reason for wars and exploitation. They leave us believing there is no alternative so we accept their decisions as inevitable. If we want to make peace we need to bring into consciousness a mother based interpretation of the world that will redefine humans as a maternal species, not a war mongering species. The pervasive (and self confirming) epistemology of capitalism takes the maternal gift logic out of thinking. Looking through the glasses of exchange eliminates the gift. So I want to try to construct an epistemology, a theory of the way we know, that will connect the gift economy with mothering and with matriarchy. I believe that many of matriarchal patterns are based on maternal patterns, patterns of mothering and being mothered, which are required by all human children, in that they are are dependent on their mothers’ care for a very long time. These patterns are similar cross culturally because of the similarity in the requirements of children. However they may be performed in various ways and by various players. Child care may be carried out by a single mother, an extended family, a whole village. Men can do mothering too, though they usually dont and I believe the exclusion of childcare from the definition of the masculine identity is one of the basic reasons for patriarchy. My hypothesis is simple but it has a lot of consequences. The hypothesis is that early child care is based on free giving and receiving and that this kind of other-oriented mode of distribution is the basis of the other forms of economy as well as of language and other sign behavior. The division between physical and mental labor, between body and mind begins when we ignore the foundational power of free giving and receiving for both the physical and the mental aspects of life. Communication is both material and mental from the beginning. Perhaps it is because other orientation appears in the patriarchal frame as altruism and morality, that there is a great opposition when it is attributed to mothers. This creates a screen against what mothers actually do. Unilateral giving is made to seem unrealistic, sentimental and even saintly but it is actually just a basic transitive interaction in which one person satisfies another’s needs. Unilateral gift giving comes before bilateral gift giving. It is the fundamental first step of a transitive logic which requires a receiver and of which bilateral giving is just one possible elaboration. Other possible elaborations of the gift are giving unilaterally at other levels, giving forward, giving unilaterally to many, receiving unilaterally, receiving and passing it on, receiving at different levels, receiving different kinds of things in different ways, and receiving together with others. In bilateral giving and receiving which I call turn taking, each person becomes a giver in turn. This develops into reciprocity and there are also many variations on that theme, including what anthropologists call generalized reciprocity, where everyone gives to everyone else. In this kind of economy relations of mutuality and trust are established throughout the community. On the other hand constrained bilateral exchange which is typical of market economies means giving in order to receive an equivalent of what has been given. This is an ego oriented rather than an other oriented interaction, and the relations it creates are completely changed. Mothers unilaterally satisfy the needs of children, and they have to do this because when they are young, children do not understand paying back. If their needs were not satisfied unilaterally by someone the children would not survive. This is an important and time consuming job for most mothers. Very detailed attention is required to the child’s physical and emotional needs, and the appropriate ways to satisfy them have to be found. Mothers and other caregivers are a kind of special first ecological niche for their children, a niche which takes the initiative to satisfy its creature’s needs. In this they are like Nature but more proactive. When we project the mother onto nature, we can understand ourselves as the receivers of nature’s gifts. We also mother ourselves in that we unconsciously select what to attend to, just as our mothers selected what gifts to give us. Mothers lay down the pattern of A gives X to B from the child’s earliest days where X is a need satisfying good or service that the mother (A) gives to the child (B). This simple pattern is the beginning of a thread of the transitive gift logic that permeates life though we have learned not to see it. This is a logic of human relations because in childhood it is invested with emotion. That is, the interaction of giving and receiving is the way expectations are created and fulfilled and positive relations are created. Since this interaction is necessary for the child’s survival it is not surprising that humans would have endowed it with a lot of significance. Motherers give and receive many different kinds of things and babies learn to imitate and do turn taking from very early on. Very young children smile when their parents smile at them, respond to their sister’s antics by laughing, try to put a half eaten cookie in their mother’s mouth. We use the word ‘exchange’ for this giving and receiving but it is a dangerous use, because it assimilates the interaction to the exchange that takes place on the market. I prefer to use the term – turntaking. The mother takes the initiative to give to the child who receives. The child takes the initiative to give to the mother who receives. This giving and receiving continues throughout life, and it is elaborated at many levels. Recently cognitive neuropsychologists have done experiments which, they say, show that altruism is innate. They drop a clothespin near the child seemingly by mistake and if the child gives it to them, they say she is being altruistic. Mothering is left out of the explanation of childhood altruism by researchers like Michael Tomasello. But ‘altruism’ is not hereditary, it comes from being mothered, from someone recognizing you needs and satisfying them day after day, minute after minute, with many different things and in many different contexts. We learn to help by being helped. We can all play the different roles in a basic script of care which we learn very early from our mothers. As neuro linguist Patricia Kuhl says – we are learning all about the neurological aspects of this – but where do the social aspects come from? 1 Cognitive psychologists Lakoff and Johnson started a kind of philosophical revolution some 30 years ago when they began to revise the concept of metaphor, recognizing it as a cognitive device coming from common human experiences of the body. They say that the corporeal or spatial logic, arising from bodily experience, is what provides the basis for the logic of abstract thought. 2 However they only consider the individual body from the skin inward. Instead it would be more accurate if they said „intercorporeal‟ logic and „intercorporeal „bodily experience”. Lakoff and Johnson introduced and made popular the idea of image schemas, very elementary but repeatable patterns of bodily experience such as: “up and down”, “path to goal “and going into or out of containers, which are mapped into language at various levels. I believe the image schema that underlies both material and verbal communication is the interactive, interpersonal sensory-motor schema of giving and receiving, first located not in the body of the child alone from the skin inward but between the mother and child, beginning in a moment in which the child has recently been part of the body of the mother and proceeding through the long period during which s/he is dependent on the mother‟s needsatisfying gifts and services for h/er body‟s very existence. . From this point of view, giving and receiving is the underlying pattern or image schema of material and verbal communication, expressed and embodied in a routine that the child learns with her mother‟s milk, a minimal play or script with three roles: giver, gift (or service), and receiver. This routine which is repeated in many different ways is the interpersonal intercorporeal experience that “provides the basis for the logic of abstract thought”. The child can play any of the roles of this routine. S/he is a giver because s/he gives smiles, cries and gestures (as well as urine and feces) which are creatively received by the parent. S/he is carried and birthed, given to life by the mother and is given h/erself by adults like a gift from hand to hand. S/he creatively (not passively) receives h/er motherers‟ care of all kinds, and also the perceptions and experiences that come from her surroundings. Sometimes this creative reception means that s/he proactively (not passively) goes out to explore the world around h/er, crawling to reach the table, grabbing the keys and chewing on the book. That is,the creativity of the reception includes the fact that the child actively goes forward to receive the perceptual gifts. Two other early mother-child interactions are Mind Reading, which is necessary for satisfying needs, and Joint Attention. Mind reading is not a psychic ability but a down to earth capacity to guess what the baby needs by putting ourselves in her place and by thinking of the context. The baby is crying and she has not eaten for several hours so she is probably hungry. So we satisfy her need for food instead of giving her a bath for example. Young children around the age of 15 months have been tested by psychologists for mind reading ability and it has been found they are able to mind-read some of the contextual information adults have and understand their intentions and desires by following posture and eye gaze. Pointing for joint attention,is giving a perceptual gift by drawing the other’s attention to it.(I would say that in joint attention both mother and child are receivers together of the same perceptual gift. Both perceptually receive the same thing and they bond with each other in the common perception/reception (Cognitive linguists like Tomasello recognize the importance of joint attention but they don’t see the image schema of the gift or the giving and receiving aspects of joint attention. Mind reading and joint attention are both part of the mothering process before the child does them on her own or with unrelated others.) These abilities and their elaborations continue to permeate adult life in many ways but we do not recognize them even though we are doing them and we do not remember that we learned to do them through others’ care of us in infancy. For example we watch a movie together, and this is joint attention. Or go to a conference and listen to the speaker together. These are maternal patterns, patterns that are an integral part of mothering and being mothered, which can be said to also be matriarchal patterns in their adult elaboration of care for the other,and the direct satisfaction of needs through gifting. The understanding of others’ needs by ‘mind reading’ putting oneself in the others’ place and by attentive listening is necessary for gift giving but also for the kinds of communication upon which community is founded. Joint attention is also a community building capacity when it is done in a group which focusses its attention on the same thing, creating mutuality, trust and finally also consensus. As adults we continue to mind read what others are attending to or not. We give them what they need to cause them to turn their attention to something. If I want to call your attention to cats I can point to them, if they are present, but now they are not present, so you need something else, to direct your attention, a word. The word ‘cats’ satisfies this need. I call this kind of need a communicative need. It is not primarily my own need I satisfy with the words I speak or write but the communicative needs of the other. We speak in the language others understand, use the words they know otherwise they will not understand us. We mind read what the other’s communicative needs are and unilaterally give them words to satisfy them. These are gifts of words, virtual verbal gifts, which create relations among givers and receivers, in the same way that giving and receiving material gifts creates relations. Language like mothering is other oriented. Since all our words come to us as gifts passed on to us from others in the linguistic community they carry with them a relation to the group as well as to the individual giver, speaker or writer. This other oriented maternal relation among individuals and with the group is reaffirmed whenever we speak or write. Even when I say ego oriented things, I have to satisfy the others communicative needs. If I say ‘that is my piece of cake and you can’t have any’, I still have to use the words you understand and this puts us in a social relation to my refusal to give. Both language and economics are based in material communication. Many matriarchal patterns are patterns coming from the transitive interactions of mothering and being mothered. These interactions create the mutuality and trust that cause physical and psychological well being and encourage the families to stay together. Dominance creates a different kind of relationship based on force. Hitting is probably also a derivative of giving, in that is touches the other person and establishes a relation – of domination though, rather than mutuality and trust. The pattern of unilateral giving and receiving continues on many different levels throughout life. Gifts given unilaterally can propagate throughout the community, creating a chain of givers and receivers who are all related to each other. This chain is broken when exchange and the market step in. Market exchange requires an equation and measurement of quantity, and it creates an adversarial situation where each is trying to get more than the other. Where gift giving is other oriented, exchange is ego oriented, every man for himself. At the same time many free gifts are given to the market. Indeed the capitalist mode of production is built on top of the gift economy and functions by surreptitiously taking the free gifts of all and making them into profit. It makes gift giving difficult and even sacrificial by creating scarcity, by channeling gifts from the many to the few and by wasting the accumulated wealth on wars and symbolic excesses. We need to return to the positive relational logic of the maternal gift economy, and avoid the negative relational logic of exchange. We need to make a social and mental space for the elaboration of the maternal-matriarchal patterns of gift giving and receiving and for the theory and practice of the gift economy, led by women, by mothers and daughters who maintain and honor the values of mothering and being mothered. The example of Matriarchies and even just the idea of matriarchy allows this. Not only has mothering been exploited in Patriarchal Capitalism but the ideas and patterns coming from mothering have been misrecognized, exploited and used against mothers, children and everyone. Unilateral giving has been taken over by patriarchal institutions like the religions, it has been framed as unrealistic, or saintly and made self sacrificial. It has been re framed as altruism, charity and volunteerism, partial individualistic solutions but hardly widespread enough to be the organizing principle of society itself. And now in a more subtle way the internet gift economy discredits mothering because it practices unilateral and multilateral gift giving but has no idea it has anything to do with mothering. And this is also true for many of the practical lifestyle initiatives of gift economies. If we do not create or find a mother based epistemology, we will simply accept the domination of the field of giving one more time by men who ignore mothering, and the gift economy movement will lose most of its healing and revolutionary potential. Women will be left to follow their assimilationist path to equality with patriarchal capitalist men. And as we are assimilated and reap the material rewards we will be equally responsible for the evil that is perpetrated by the patricarchal capitalist gift-plundering system. The superstructure of the gift economy validates other orientation not only towards our individual families but towards all the social groups which are exploited by Patriarchal Capitalism. Not being other oriented in this way contradicts our maternal heritage. The wars that our governments are now engaged in contradict our maternal heritage including the war against poor people and the war against Mother Earth. We need to turn our other oriented consciousness and care towards all the victims of these wars, including Mother Earth Herself. And aren’t these wars economic wars of the exchange economy against the gift economy, of the market against the mother? One answer to the question of ‘what should we do now?’ is that we should create mother based philosophy and epistemology. Philosophical questions like ‘Do other minds exist?’ and ‘Does external reality exist?’ are questions asked in the absence of the mother and they set the stage for the exploitation and destruction of other minds and of reality. Matriarchal epistemologies based in indigenous mother-centered creation stories can guide us. Western science, motivated by the market, mainly leaves the mother out of its creation story. We urgently need to put her back in and tell a new story, which is also an old one.

THE GIFT ECONOMY BOOK LIST

The Maternal Roots of the Gift Economy by Genevieve Vaughan
1. In a moment when the values of Patriarchy and the market seem to have triumphed, the values of mothering and care are more sorely needed than ever. This book explores many aspects of the gift paradigm from a variety of points of view, taking into account theory and practice, activism and spirituality, as well as the experience of Indigenous societies North and South where maternal values are still at the centre for both women and men. Readers will find abundant evidence of ways of thinking and being that are possible beyond the Patriarchal Capitalism that is now threatening the existence of life on Mother Earth. Divided in four section, Theory, Practice, Practice in Non-Western Realities, and Spiritualities. Articles are by well-known scholars and activists from around the world.
Women and the Gift Economy: A Radically Different Worldview is Possible by Genevieve Vaughan
1. An attempt to respond to the need for deep and lasting social change in an epoch of dangerous crisis for all humans, cultures, and the planet. Featuring articles by well-known feminist activists and academics from around the world, this book points to ways to re-create the connection, which have been severed, between the gift economy, women, and the economies of Indigenous peoples, and to bring forward the gift paradigm as an approach to liberate us from the worldview of the market that is destroying life on the planet. Contributors argue that shifting to a gift paradigm can give us the radically different worldview which will make another, better, world possible.
Feminist Gift Economy by Barbara Alice Mann, Angela Miles, Sheila Molloy, Chang Pilwha, and Genevieve Vaughan
1. A collection of articles introducing Indigenous and feminist gift culture and theory and bringing gift lenses to Islamic, Jewish, Anishnaabe culture and social organization, and to specific historical events, institutions, and elements of life in Canada, Colombia, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Senegal, the UK, and U.S. These articles are an exciting testimony to the varied promise of gift-informed analyses and possibilities of a better world built on life and mother-honoring social relations.
The Legacy of Mothers: Matriarchies and the Gift Economy as Post Capitalist Alternatives by Erella Shadmi
1. Gathering together powerful voices of feminist writers, peace activists, and matriarchal studies scholars from around the globe, the book reconceptualizes mothers, motherhood, and mothering as an alternative human logic to create a new sociopolitical order. The contributors draw on ancient knowledges, Indigenous perspectives, and African traditions like Motherism to argue for the reordering of our world according to a distinctly transformative feminism. The book then explores where this new logic is already taking root, demonstrating that a better world is not just possible but already evolving.
Imagine a (M)otherworld by Erella Shadmi
1. This book addresses the multidimensional crisis facing western civilization and offers an alternative, innovative approach – the Mother Logic as the basis for a counter-revolution to the western patriarchal order. This analysis comprises three parts: the profound failure of western civilization, rooted in the patriarchal rejection of the maternal and reflected in its wars and exploitation of nature; the matriarchy as a more viable social, political, and economic order; and the need for comprehensive and deep-seated change.
The Evolved Nest: Nature’s Way of Raising Children and Creating Connected Communities by Darcia Narvaez
1. A beautiful resource for Nature advocates, parents-to-be, Animal lovers, and anyone who seeks to restore wellbeing on our planet, The Evolved Nest reconnects us to lessons from the Animal world and shows us how to restore wellness in our families, communities, and lives. Each of 10 chapters explores a different animal’s parenting model, sharing species-specific adaptations that allow each to thrive in their “evolved nests.” Psychologists Drs. Darcia Narvaez and Gay Bradshaw show us how each evolved nest offers inspiration for reexamining our own systems of nurturing, understanding, and caring for our young and each other. Alongside beautiful illustrations, stunning scientific facts, and lessons in neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology, we learn to care deeper: to restore our innate place within the natural world and fight for an ecology of life that supports our flourishing in balance with Nature alongside our human and non-human family.

Indigenous Societies

INDIGENOUS CULTURES can offer valuable insights into egalitarian and non-hierarchical societies, providing alternative models to the hierarchical structures prevalent in many contemporary societies. Here are some key lessons that can be drawn from indigenous cultures:

Communalism and Cooperation:
- Indigenous societies often emphasize communal living and cooperation over competition. Decision-making is typically collective, involving the community as a whole.
- Resources are often shared, and there is a sense of responsibility for the well-being of all members.
Respect for Nature:
- Many indigenous cultures maintain a deep connection with the natural world. They often live in harmony with the environment, recognizing the interconnectedness of all living things.
- This perspective can provide lessons on sustainable living and the importance of respecting and preserving the Earth’s resources.
Holistic Worldview:
- Indigenous cultures often have a holistic worldview that integrates the spiritual, social, and ecological aspects of life. This holistic approach contrasts with the compartmentalization often seen in modern societies.
- The interconnectedness of various elements in life, including the spiritual and natural, can inspire a more integrated and balanced perspective.
Oral Tradition and Wisdom:
- Many indigenous cultures rely on oral traditions to pass down knowledge, stories, and cultural practices. This can emphasize the importance of collective memory and shared wisdom.
- Decision-making processes may involve the incorporation of traditional knowledge, ensuring that the community benefits from accumulated wisdom.
Celebration of Diversity:
- Indigenous cultures often celebrate diversity within their communities, acknowledging the uniqueness of each individual. This inclusivity contrasts with the homogenizing tendencies sometimes found in larger, more hierarchical societies.
Decentralized Leadership:
- Leadership in indigenous societies is often decentralized, with multiple leaders or councils responsible for decision-making. This can prevent the concentration of power in a few hands and promote a more egalitarian distribution of authority.
Ceremonies and Rituals:
- Rituals and ceremonies play a significant role in many indigenous cultures. These events can foster a sense of community, shared identity, and collective purpose.
- Such practices can be seen as mechanisms for reinforcing social bonds and maintaining a sense of unity and equality.
Conflict Resolution:
- Indigenous societies often have traditional methods of conflict resolution that focus on reconciliation and restoration rather than punitive measures. This approach can contribute to maintaining social harmony.

While indigenous cultures provide valuable insights, it’s important to recognize that these societies are diverse, and practices vary widely among them. Additionally, the impact of colonization has had profound effects on many indigenous communities. When learning from these cultures, it is crucial to approach them with respect, cultural sensitivity, and a commitment to understanding their unique contexts.

INDIGENOUS CULTURES BOOK LIST

Daughters of Mother Earth: The Wisdom of Native American Women by Barbara Alice Mann
1. The book holds that for too long, elements unnatural to Native American ways of knowing have been imposed on the study of Native America. Euro-American discourse styles, emphasizing elite male privilege and conceptual linearity, have drowned out th democratic and woman-centered Native approaches. This book seeks to redress that balance, allowing the Daughters of Mother Earth to reclaim their ancient responsibility to speak in council, to tell the truth, to guide the rising generations through spirit-spoken wisdom.
Iroquoian Women: The Gantowisas by Barbara Alice Mann
1. This book provides a thorough, organized look at the social, political, economic, and religious roles of women among the Iroquois, explaining their fir with the larger culture. Gantowisas means more than simply “woman” – gantowisas is “woman acting in her official capacity” as fire-keeping woman, faith-keeping woman, gift-giving women; leader, counselor, judge; Mother of the People.
Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee Influence on Early American Feminists by Sally Roesch Wagner
1. Haudenosaunee women sparked the revolutionary vision of early feminists by providing a model of freedom at a time when American women experienced few rights. Women of the Six Nations Confederacy possessed decisive political power, control of their bodies, control of their own property, custody of their children, the power to initiate divorce, satisfying work and a society generally free of rape and domestic violence.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robun Wall Kimmerer
1. Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings – asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass – offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gift in return.
Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta
1. A paradigm-shifting book that brings a crucial Indigenous perspective to historical and cultural issues of history, education, money, power, and sustainability – and offers a new template for living. This book provides a new model for our everyday lives. Rich in ideas and inspiration, it explains how lines and symbols and shapes can help us make sense of the world. The author’s writing process beings with images. Horing indigenous traditions, he makes carvings of what he wants to say, channeling his thoughts through symbols and diagrams rather than words. He yarns with people, looking for ways to connect images and stories with place and relationship to create a coherent world view, and he uses sand talk, the Aboriginal custom of drawing images on the ground to convey knowledge.
Columbus and Other Cannibals by Jack Forbes
1. A 1978 history of terrorism, genocide, and ecocide told from a Native American point of view that has inspired America’s most influential activists for decades. Identifying the Western compulsion to consume the earth as a sickness.
Leave Some for the Birds: Movements for Justice by Marjorie Beaucage
1. A poetic memoir that reflects on seven decades of living and seeking justice as a Two Spirit Michif woman. Poems, poetic observations and thoughtful meanderings comprise this inspirational journal-memoir-poetry collection from a woman who has dedicated her life and her talent to creating social change. Unfolding the wisdom gained from experience, the book offers guidance for younger activists following the author’s trailblazing footsteps.
Donna Giancola
1. “This chapter seeks to contribute to the eco-feminist dialogue concerning the still present need for global advances in the status of both women and nature. Beginning with a cross-cultural comparative analysis of ancient myth, I propose to revive a dynamic “biophilic” ethics of interconnectedness and eco-justice. An examination of modern relationships between women and and eads us to conclude that our institutions and practices are woefully destructive. This situation is symptomatic of the fundamental oppression inherent to the dominant patriarchal paradigm. Practices imbedded and deeply rooted within societal customs, traditions and attitudes frequently prevent women from equal access to land and deny women the right of being recognized as producers. By reclaiming our ancient goddess myths and indigenous sense of sacredness, we can heal some of the schisms of planetary oppression. Respecting women’s rights to land and their relationships with the earth, and encouraging women’s ownership of land, is a pragmatic, double-pronged step towards changing destructive thinking patterns about women and our planet. Women’s access and title tenure to land is a solution towards empowering women, adjusting ideologies and promoting global and ecological sustainability.”

Dystopia/Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Utopian Societies

Modern Matriarchal Studies

The Maternal Gift Economy

Indigenous Societies

Other Models of Post-Capitalist Economies