What do you think?
Rate this book
Parole de Terre. Une initiation africaine
Pierre Rabhi a fondé toute sa philosophie de vie ainsi que son travail de mise en valeur des régions arides et des cultures traditionnelles sur l’ardente passion qu’il voue à la Terre. Après Du Sahara aux Cévennes ou la reconquête du songe, il plaide ici en faveur de l’indispensable réconciliation avec notre Terre-Mère, aussi réelle que symbolique, aussi essentielle dans la pratique que sur le plan spirituel.
Sous forme de récit préfacé par Yehudi Menuhin, Parole de Terre dresse le bilan d’une civilisation qui, voulant dominer la Terre, la mutile, la torture et la désacralise. A travers Tyemoro, le personnage principal, s’expriment la souffrance et l’abandon dont sont victimes les peuples traditionnels du Sud, soumis à la logique désastreuse du productivisme agricole.
Cette initiation africaine, d’une portée universelle, veut nous ouvrir les yeux et alerter nos consciences sur les exactions commises à l’encontre de la planète, mais aussi à notre détriment, car Pierre Rabhi nous le rappelle : notre destin est lié à celui de la Terre d’une manière irrévocable.
Sous forme de récit préfacé par Yehudi Menuhin, Parole de Terre dresse le bilan d’une civilisation qui, voulant dominer la Terre, la mutile, la torture et la désacralise. A travers Tyemoro, le personnage principal, s’expriment la souffrance et l’abandon dont sont victimes les peuples traditionnels du Sud, soumis à la logique désastreuse du productivisme agricole.
Cette initiation africaine, d’une portée universelle, veut nous ouvrir les yeux et alerter nos consciences sur les exactions commises à l’encontre de la planète, mais aussi à notre détriment, car Pierre Rabhi nous le rappelle : notre destin est lié à celui de la Terre d’une manière irrévocable.
- GenresAfrica
245 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 29, 1996
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 8, 2021
Rabhi is a learned, passionate, lyrical environmentalist, calling for the lands of arid Africa and the Near East to be saved. Somewhat predictably, an American journalist responds, "An Arab ecologist? Thank God there's at least one!"
November 29, 2017
I suppose I should note here that my review may need a "spoiler alert".
I'm not going hide it though.
Consider yourself warned.
SPOILER ALERT!
I was confused a bit as the book is written from the firsthand perspective and yet it is not the author as the protagonist. Apparently this is based on a traditional African parable. Whatever.
I'll probably never review anything that I give less than three stars to because I've learned to quit reading anything that feels like a chore or a bore.
Our hero is a scholar who makes periodic visits to an African village to document their language and customs. In the second chapter he is asked by a boy who has lost all his family and doesn't fit in if he will adopt him and take him away with him. This seems like a big deal at the beginning of the book. He doesn't answer the boy and he isn't mentioned for most of the rest of the story. At the end he tells us that he decided to leave him behind so he could be with his own kind. It seemed like kind of a cold sendoff for a book that's supposed to make you feel hopeful for the sake of humanity.
Not much else is offered for reasoning.
Otherwise, hearing the perspective of modern society coming in and trying to improve life for these villagers and basically ruining everything as told from the village is very powerful.
The middle of the book meanders into African creation myth and history that seems long winded in its telling and irrelevant to the story line.
The ending got to what I was anticipating. The author is an organic farmer who realized when he saw the ecological devastation in Africa that something more comprehensive was needed. He introduced biodynamic farming. This is a precursor to Bill Mollison's permaculture developed by the fascinating Rudolf Steiner.
I wish that the book had gone into more detail regarding their methods and results, trials and errors. But that's just the permaculture nerd in me.
It's probably enough for the average reader though.
This book can provide you with a valuable perspective of our modern society's failings and the path to saving our souls and soil.
I'm not going hide it though.
Consider yourself warned.
SPOILER ALERT!
I was confused a bit as the book is written from the firsthand perspective and yet it is not the author as the protagonist. Apparently this is based on a traditional African parable. Whatever.
I'll probably never review anything that I give less than three stars to because I've learned to quit reading anything that feels like a chore or a bore.
Our hero is a scholar who makes periodic visits to an African village to document their language and customs. In the second chapter he is asked by a boy who has lost all his family and doesn't fit in if he will adopt him and take him away with him. This seems like a big deal at the beginning of the book. He doesn't answer the boy and he isn't mentioned for most of the rest of the story. At the end he tells us that he decided to leave him behind so he could be with his own kind. It seemed like kind of a cold sendoff for a book that's supposed to make you feel hopeful for the sake of humanity.
Not much else is offered for reasoning.
Otherwise, hearing the perspective of modern society coming in and trying to improve life for these villagers and basically ruining everything as told from the village is very powerful.
The middle of the book meanders into African creation myth and history that seems long winded in its telling and irrelevant to the story line.
The ending got to what I was anticipating. The author is an organic farmer who realized when he saw the ecological devastation in Africa that something more comprehensive was needed. He introduced biodynamic farming. This is a precursor to Bill Mollison's permaculture developed by the fascinating Rudolf Steiner.
I wish that the book had gone into more detail regarding their methods and results, trials and errors. But that's just the permaculture nerd in me.
It's probably enough for the average reader though.
This book can provide you with a valuable perspective of our modern society's failings and the path to saving our souls and soil.
November 26, 2021
I read this at the suggestion of my French penpal. She recently secured a French version of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and after we exchanged thoughts on it, she thought I might enjoy Rabhi's book. She was right. While it meandered a bit, I found Rabhi to be a most gentle and thoughtful human being and his love of the earth is grand to behold. As always for me, the translation from French to English made the prose most lyrical. Carson's book was penned it 1962 and this one in 1996 and still...we have far to go to preserve and honor this earth as our most earlier ancestors did.
May 27, 2024
Contenuti validi ed interessanti. A tratti ho trovato la scrittura un po' biblica e poco scorrevole. Forse la lettura è più semplice per qualcuno con delle conoscenze in agricoltura
September 13, 2024
An important read for everyone. The simplicity in which he explains farming is inspiring for both those learning and those teaching.
March 6, 2017
Beautifully written. The basics of life are simple and naturally explained. loved it!
September 18, 2012
This book is simply poetic. As a gardener and plant lover of many years, I found Rabhi's words to be affirming, provocative and simply elegant. The greatest portion of the book consists of an African elder speaking about his community and culture. When reading it, it was as if I was sitting with that elder. The book is both educating and endearing at the same time, potent yet subtle in its approach to the many crises we face in these modern times. I'm so pleased that this book found me!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews