<div dir="ltr"><div>This is a beautiful and meaningful reflection, Hans, thank you.</div><div><br></div><div>One thing about empires, such as the global neoliberal empire which is now peaking and passing, is that their vast destructiveness provokes a spiritual response. Religions are born from such tragedies. And in a less codified way, feelings of awe before the inner workings of deep time reverberate from the end of one civilization, to the twilight of another.<br></div><div><br></div><div>We have not invented any messianic religion as of yet, and our tragedy may go too fast for any such thing to happen. But when I travel outside cities seeking what can only be found in the land, I constantly encounter the profound indigenous awareness of what moderns call ecology. I don't think this is so rare for sensitive people right now. Nor has it been so rare since the 1960s at the very latest.</div><div><br></div><div>One important thing is to turn that encounter into a politics that can actually do some good. Another thing is to just feel it.</div><div><br></div><div>all the best on your journeys, Brian Holmes<br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Mon, Nov 19, 2018 at 6:16 PM Hans Baumann <<a href="mailto:hans@hbaumann.com">hans@hbaumann.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">----------empyre- soft-skinned space----------------------<br>
Thank you for the introduction Tim. The exchange that has occurred<br>
over the past several weeks has been exceptionally rewarding to follow<br>
and I would like to extend this discussion. I am specifically<br>
interested in the following question raised by Kate Brettkelly:<br>
<br>
"When we celebrate the deep time of earth, do we actively overlook the<br>
durations and experiences of indigenous peoples?"<br>
<br>
My contribution to the CCA Biennial, "The Crystalline Basement", was -<br>
in short - an examination of geothermal energy extraction from a<br>
humanist perspective. All of the themes that Kate mentions in her post<br>
- deep time, earth history, universalist frameworks - are embedded in<br>
the science and practice of geothermal engineering. Regardless of its<br>
"green" credentials, geothermal energy extraction is guided by<br>
utilitarian concerns: how much can the system produce, is it<br>
economically viable, et cetera. Within this paradigm of extraction,<br>
"deep time" and other geological concerns have the capacity to enact<br>
the sort of erasure that Kate refers to in the above quote. At<br>
Standing Rock, Black Mesa and countless other sites, indigeneity has<br>
come into direct conflict with the desire to exploit the material<br>
remains of deep time.<br>
<br>
Over the past year, I have led a series of storytelling projects with<br>
members of the Navajo community. Early in the genesis of this project,<br>
I was introduced to the Navajo concept (and I am paraphrasing here)<br>
that narrative, identity and geography are mutualistic concepts. As<br>
one storyteller - a man named Ron Maldonado - explained it:<br>
<br>
“As people lose their stories, they lose a sense of their own being.<br>
You can’t tie yourself back to the landscape anymore … In order to<br>
know who you are, you have to know where you came from … It's a<br>
different way of seeing the world … and it’s a history that goes back<br>
to the beginning of time”<br>
<br>
Over the course of working with Ron, I came to understand "deep time"<br>
as something that grounded him and that acted as a source of his<br>
identity. Is this the same universalist concept to which Kate refers?<br>
I would argue that it is not, and I would like to suggest that<br>
concepts of deep time, earth history and the geological realm are<br>
inherently benign. Their generative capacity and their potential to<br>
erase, suppress or silence ultimately reflect the spectrum of our<br>
relationships to the nonhuman world, whether this is as a source of<br>
difference or one of connection.<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
<br>
Hans Baumann<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
H. Baumann<br>
310.980.4165<br>
<a href="http://www.hbaumann.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">www.hbaumann.com</a><br>
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