There are two worldviews of prominence today. The oldest and wisest one our guests call kincentricity, following the late dear ancestor Dennis Martinez, who coined the term. Kincentricity defines our humanity through our inextricable connections with all there is. The second and newest worldview, dominant in the past five or six hundred years, we might call egocentricity, a view that places humanity as separate and transcendent from nature. In the first view, nature is seen as a place of blessing and wholeness, the world is alive and composed of allies and spiritual energies; in the second, nature has been “itted to death,” reduced to a mass of inert elements that are not accorded sentience in themselves. Certain animals and plants may be begrudgingly considered alive, but of secondary importance; their existence is only important in how they or “it” can be utilized for human consumption. Forests are reduced to lumber, rivers to hydroelectric power, and so forth. The dominant worldview considers everything on earth to be for the benefit of humankind. But that has not worked out too well, because humans are nature; we are made up of the same elements as everything else. Our guests Wahinkpe Topa or Four Arrows, and Darcia Narvaez, not only recognize this; they have published a terrific book that brings together important leaders in Indigenous communities, shares their essays, and then engages in a robust dialogue regarding the insights and implications of the ideas. The book is called Restoring the Kinship Worldview, and we are blessed to have the authors – Wahinkkpe Topa (Four Arrows) and Darcia Narvaez - here today to continue the dialogue.
Four Arrows (also known as Wahinkpe Topa) is author of 24 books, including Restoring the Kinship Worldview, Primal Awareness, Teaching Virtues, and numerous chapters, articles, peer-reviewed papers, and keynotes. He is also the subject of a book by R.M. Fisher entitled Fearless Engagement of Four Arrows: A True Story of an Indigenous Based Social Transformer. Four Arrows is internationally known for his work in cognitive anthropology ( worldview studies), education, critical theory, and wellness. Former Director of Education at Oglala Lakota College, and has been selected as one of the 35 visionaries in education who tell their stories for the book Turning Points.
Darcia Narvaez Professor Emerita of psychology at Univ of Notre Dame, Darcia investigates moral development and human flourishing from an interdisciplinary (transdisciplinary) perspective, integrating anthropology, neuroscience, and clinical, developmental and educational sciences. She is author of more than twenty books, including Restoring the Kinship Worldview, Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First Nation Know How for Global Flourishing, and Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom, which won the 2015 William James Award from APA and the Expanded Reason Award.
https://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Kinship-Worldview-Indigenous-Rebalancing/dp/1623176425