In this episode, Kollibri terre Sonnenblume and I speak with Dr. Riane Eisler — social systems scientist, cultural historian, and attorney. She is the author of numerous books, including most famously ‘The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future,’ and most recently ‘Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future,’ co-authored with anthropologist Douglas Fry. Kollibri is the host of the Voices For Nature & Peace podcast, and this interview will be released on both of our respective programs.
Partnership and domination — paradigms that stand at either end of what humanity has been capable of producing in societies and cultures throughout human history. Dr. Eisler's decades of groundbreaking research into the roots of each of these paradigms has lifted the veil of what human beings are truly capable of — expanding our view of what "human nature" really is — by drawing on numerous sources of research from anthropology, archeology, psychology, and more. As she elaborates in this interview, dominator societies are "trauma factories" that reproduce trauma intergenerationally, and that these dynamics play out within the bounds of the "left vs. right" sociopolitical paradigm we operate within. To truly allow a partnership paradigm to gain prominence again, we must address the root causes that allow dominator systems to maintain their hold, which includes examining the relationship between genders as well as the earliest stages of childhood development.
Dr. Riane Eisler is a social systems scientist, cultural historian, and attorney whose research, writing, and speaking has transformed the lives of people worldwide. Her newest work, ‘Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future,’ co-authored with anthropologist Douglas Fry, shows how to construct a more equitable, sustainable, and less violent world based on partnership rather than domination. She is internationally known for her bestseller ‘The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future,’ now in 27 foreign editions and 57 U.S. printings. Her book on economics, ‘The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics,’ was hailed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu as “a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking” and by Jane Goodall as “a call to action.” Other books drawing from Eisler’s research include her award-winning ‘Tomorrow’s Children,’ ‘Sacred Pleasure,’ and ‘Women, Men, and the Global Quality of Life,’ statistically documenting the key role of women’s status in a nation’s quality of life. Through the Center for Partnership Studies’ Caring Economy Campaign she developed new metrics demonstrating the economic value of caring for people, starting in early childhood, and of caring for nature.
Episode Notes:
- Learn more about Dr. Eisler’s work at her website: https://rianeeisler.com
- Learn more about the Center for Partnership Studies and Partnerism: https://centerforpartnership.org / https://www.partnerism.org
- Subscribe to Kollibri’s podcast, learn more about his work, and support him on Patreon: https://radiofreesunroot.com / https://macskamoksha.com / https://www.patreon.com/kollibri
- The song featured in this episode is “Das Model - OVO Rework (REMASTERED 2019)” by Scala & Kolacny Brothers: https://bit.ly/2Ff7v4t
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