Broken Home: Learning from Indigenous Teachings about Reintegrating Economy and Ecology

We live in a broken home. How many times have you heard that we cannot stop building more pipelines or cutting down more forests because it would hurt the economy? The "eco" of economy is the same "eco" as the one we find in the word ecology. It comes from

Speakers

Daniel Coleman
Professor, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University

Start

October 8, 2020 - 1:30 pm

End

October 8, 2020 - 3:30 pm

Address

Virtual Presentation   View map
We live in a broken home. How many times have you heard that we cannot stop building more pipelines or cutting down more forests because it would hurt the economy? The “eco” of economy is the same “eco” as the one we find in the word ecology. It comes from the Greek word oikos, which means “home.” You could say that Western culture’s history of industrialization is a history of the divorce of our home into two bitter and hurting rivals, Mother Earth and Father Paycheque. Our divided home has led us to accept an economy based on consumption, whose costs are extracted from our own physical domicile. Of late, however, our gradual awakening to environmental concerns is making us reconsider these arrangements. For generations, Indigenous teachers have suggested that there is an alternative economy, one based not so completely on consumption but upon the economy of the gift. I hope to explore the relevance of these alternatives not just for First People, but for everyone in these times of planetary fragility.

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