Beyond the Anthropo-Scene

The renowned “anthropologist under Amazonian influence” and indigenous rights activist Jeremy Narby, author of such classics as The Cosmic Serpent and Intelligence in Nature, considers the intelligence of living beings and wrestles with his own culture’s anthropocentric concepts. In his view, constantly affirming the centrality of humans gets in the way of respectful living in the biosphere. Rethinking human-centered concepts such as “nature” and “anthropocene” can cast light on our relationship with the living world. Because the words we use influence how we think, we gain from examining them with care.

Please enjoy this talk by the brilliant Canadian anthropologist, Jeremy Narby. In his 20-minute presentation, from the 2017 Bioneers Conference, Dr. Narby discusses the ways in which indigenous peoples in the Amazon experience the intelligence of the more-than-human world.

Quote of the Day from Jeremy Narby

"The Asháninka people speak of plants and animals as intelligent beings with personalities and intentions, and who have kinship with humans…Biology has confirmed human kinship with other species, and has shown that all living beings are genetically related. The more that science looks at the natural world, the more intelligence it finds there… There is strong evidence that numerous species think, feel, remember, and plan, and have language-like abilities and systems of communication. This has led some western thinkers to move away from constantly affirming the centrality of human beings.”

- Jeremy Narby, Anthropologist