Fugitive epistemologies challenge traditional knowledge paradigms by promoting tactile, embodied interactions with the environment.
Redefining God and truth as dynamic, evolving concepts challenges fixed notions of divinity and truth.
Deep dives
Navigating Fugitive Times and Epistemologies
Navigating fugitive times, as described in the podcast, involves adopting fugitive epistemologies that challenge traditional forward-facing modern ways of knowing. Fugitivity is about engaging with corporeal, experimental, and speculative modes of knowing that reorient our relationship with the environment. This alternative way of knowing emphasizes embodied, tactile interactions with the world, contrasting the instrumental view of nature prevalent in modernity. By embracing fugitive epistemologies, we awaken to different sensory dimensions and reimagine our connection with the environment.
Reimagining Concepts of God and Truth
The discussion on God and truth delves into redefining traditional conceptions. Examining apophatic and cataphatic approaches to understanding God, the podcast challenges the stability of defining divinity through positive statements. The concept of godding is introduced as an ongoing process, emphasizing the evolving, indeterminate nature of divinity. Similarly, truth is explored beyond platonic ideals, encouraging a shift towards considering truth as a fluid, risomatic entity rather than a fixed, representational construct.
Rethinking Justice, Accountability, and Moral Stability
The dialogue explores the complex interplay between justice, accountability, and moral stability within shifting cosmological frameworks. Rather than viewing justice as a fixed concept, the conversation challenges prevailing assumptions about moral coherence and accountability. The distinction between ethics and morality is highlighted, with a focus on reevaluating how moral architectures shape our understanding of right and wrong. By questioning existing moralities and acknowledging their entanglement with ethical flows, the podcast prompts a deeper reflection on the complexities of navigating ethical dilemmas.
Embracing Post-Activism and Creating Sanctuary
Post-activism is presented as a paradigm shift that acknowledges the limitations of traditional activism in the face of transformative upheavals. Emphasizing disability as a reconfiguration of agency, post-activism prompts a reevaluation of human-centered approaches. The concept of creating sanctuary extends beyond mere safety, encompassing a transformative practice of nurturing fugitive power and embracing complexity. By challenging normative notions of human agency and embracing interdependencies, post-activism invites a reimagining of how we engage with societal shifts and uncertainties.
“The fugitive is the figure of the Anthropocene, a political invitation to unlearn ‘mastery,’ to fall to the Earth, to learn how to commune with soil… In a sense, the fugitive answers the question that is hidden within the words of my Elders, when they say: ‘in order to find your way, you must become lost.’” In this week’s episode, Bayo Akomolafe guides listeners on a journey to lose oneself and leave behind the ties that bind us to world views that do not serve humanity’s wholeness. Touching on the historical roots of fugitivity, Bayo challenges us to lean into the “political un-project” that is fugitivity, blurring societally-imposed binaries, in order to better understand the human territory and to make more-than-human sanctuary through post activism. If justice is an action and not a static state, how can we embody it? Twisting and turning through the contours of human consciousness and understanding, Bayo and Ayana dive into meaningful and existential questions. Rooted in trickster philosophy and abundant spirituality, Bayo encourages mindful and playful questions. At the heart of such complex questioning, lies the vital question of our time – what does it mean to be a human in times such as this?Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life partner to Ije, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell Our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak, Bayo Akomolafe is the Visionary Founder of The Emergence Network and host of the online postactivist course, ‘We Will dance with Mountains’. Music by Dzidzor and Lady Moon and the Eclipse. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.
