Demeter and the Commons of Being: Speculative essay against loss of ancestry and the arrogation of property

by Jan Ulrich Hasecke

This book explores a past which has made our present lives possible and looks to a future which will not come to pass without our help. Using a speculative approach based on biological findings to interpret the myth of Demeter, this book traces the development of ancient cereal varieties that evolved from native Poaceae ‘as if by magic’. It shows that the creation of ancient cereal varieties was unknowingly aided by the habits of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. The seeds we see today are the result of many thousands of years of interaction between man and his environment. This process was not driven by the deliberate invention of something new but by a tradition that has stayed the same for the seasonal migration of hunter-gatherers and, more recently, the pattern of sowing and harvesting. The world as we know it today was created by the generations that went before us and is thus, as a whole, a commons that is accessible to all and should remain as such. By privatising the achievements of our ancestors, man is destroying the commons of being, replacing them with legal fictions, such as property and so-called intellectual property. The essay goes against this arrogation, developing a post-religious concept of humility that defends the commons and gives the indignados of this world the power to fight against the arrogation of property.

30 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2013

About the author

Impressum

Jan Ulrich Hasecke was born in 1963 in Germany. He is the author of the novel Die Reise nach Jerusalem and the eco-philosophical essay Demeter and the Commons of Being.

Die Wahrheit des Sehens, his book about the polish film maker Krzysztof Kieślowski is an inspiring analysis of the masterpiece "Dekalog" covering the discussion about realism in 20th century film theory and polish film history after World War II.

Since 1998 he is writing a blog called juh's Sudelbuch. The name is inspired by the famous German aphorist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg. In his blog he publishes satires and essays about society, art and politics. The volumes 1998 to 2009 of juh's Sudelbuch are available as ebooks.

Jan Ulrich Hasecke is member of the author organisation Qindie. The name stands for "Quality" and "Indie".