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Brona's Books's Reviews > Sand Talk
Sand Talk
by
by
Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta is a book almost designed to be provocative and contentious. I only say that because I know that there will always be people who feel the need to pull down or dismiss any point of view that diverges from the dominant, mainstream view.
Whereas I'm LOVING how the publishing world is currently embracing a wide variety of views from within our Indigenous community. There is no longer the expectation that all Indigenous thinking should be the same, and that all Indigenous people should speak with the one voice and the one purpose. It is also useful (if not challenging) for the dominant culture to have it ways of life reflected back via a completely different lens.
"Our knowledge is only valued if it is fossilised, while our evolving customs and thought patterns are viewed with distaste and scepticism."
I'm not convinced that any one way of thinking, Indigenous or otherwise, will save our world but books like Sand Talk can open our minds and hearts to seeing the world through another's eyes. They may even give us a new way of seeing and thinking about our world that expands and enriches our current position.
"Apocalypses have proven to be survivable in the past, although on the downside it usually means that your culture will never be the same again."
I'm all for having your mind expanded by other possibilities and other perspectives. Yunkaporta has very definite opinions and beliefs, but he doesn't expect you to follow him and he doesn't harangue you. He acknowledges there are other ways, even within his own community.
Full review here - http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/...
Whereas I'm LOVING how the publishing world is currently embracing a wide variety of views from within our Indigenous community. There is no longer the expectation that all Indigenous thinking should be the same, and that all Indigenous people should speak with the one voice and the one purpose. It is also useful (if not challenging) for the dominant culture to have it ways of life reflected back via a completely different lens.
"Our knowledge is only valued if it is fossilised, while our evolving customs and thought patterns are viewed with distaste and scepticism."
I'm not convinced that any one way of thinking, Indigenous or otherwise, will save our world but books like Sand Talk can open our minds and hearts to seeing the world through another's eyes. They may even give us a new way of seeing and thinking about our world that expands and enriches our current position.
"Apocalypses have proven to be survivable in the past, although on the downside it usually means that your culture will never be the same again."
I'm all for having your mind expanded by other possibilities and other perspectives. Yunkaporta has very definite opinions and beliefs, but he doesn't expect you to follow him and he doesn't harangue you. He acknowledges there are other ways, even within his own community.
Full review here - http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/...
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Reading Progress
September 3, 2019
–
Started Reading
September 3, 2019
– Shelved
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"Most of us have been displaced from those cultures of origin, a global diaspora of refugees...There is nothing permanent about settlements & the civilisations that spawn them."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"Most of us have been displaced from those cultures of origin, a global diaspora of refugees...There is nothing permanent about settlements & the civilisations that spawn them."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"There is nothing new about imperial cultures imposing classifications on Indigenous people."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"Our knowledge is only valued if it is fossilised, while our evolving customs & thought patterns are viewed with distaste and scepticism."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"I’m examining global systems from an Indigenous Knowledge perspective."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"Any discussion of Indigenous Knowledge systems is always a polite acknowledgement of connection to the land rather than true engagement. It is always about the what, and never about the how."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"What I say will be subjective & fragmentary, of course, & five minutes after it is written it will already be out of date....The real knowledge will keep moving in lands & Peoples, & I’ll move on with it...I need to pass these concepts on so I can leave them behind & grow into the next stage of knowledge."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"We don’t have a word for non-linear in our languages because nobody would consider travelling, thinking or talking in a straight line in the first place. The winding path is just how the path is, & therefore it needs no name."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"There is no difference between you, a stone, a tree or a traffic light. All contain knowledge, story, pattern."
page
47
September 15, 2019
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16.79%
"The basic protocols of Aboriginal society, like most societies, include respecting & hearing all points of view in a yarn."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"There is Law & knowledge of Law in stones. All Law-breaking comes from that first evil thought, that original sin of placing yourself above the land or above other people."
page
47
September 15, 2019
–
16.79%
"Nothing is created or destroyed; it just moves & changes, and this is the First Law....Nothing can be held, accumulated, stored."
page
47
September 15, 2019
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21.07%
"If you are Aboriginal: you perform & display the paint & feathers, the pretty bits of your culture, & talk about your unique connection to the land while people look through glass boxes at you, but you are not supposed to look back, or describe what you see."
page
59
February 24, 2020
–
Finished Reading
