Decolonising ourselves

A gathering facilitated by Yin Paradies

In merely asking who I am, many of us encounter and get trapped in the structures of identity that have surrounded us from birth and before.

What happens when those structures are the product of colonisation and modernity?  How do we even approach that question?  And what is the impact of having our sense of who we are defined by, and often reflecting, the values of the dominant cultures?

Can we decolonise ourselves?

We invite you to an exploration of cultural diversity, Western (mono-)culture, (de-)colonisation, modern societies, offering perspectives on the issue of who we are.  Exploring how our identity, and identity itself, can be a product of modernity.

This is also a call for de-colonisation through the opening, the widening of our eyes, hearts, dreams. An offering of possibilities for emerging decolonial futures.

This session is for all humans, regardless of family history, ecology, ancestry.  It invites inquiries about our personal indigeneity, and the unapologetic understanding that we are all exposed to many forms of colonialism.  It invites the realisation that we have the agency to liberate ourselves, and to stop attitudes, behaviours and strategies that perpetuate the systems of oppression that characterise our modern societies.

Yin Paradies is a Wakaya man and Professor of Race Relations at Deakin University, teaching and researching on (anti-)racism, Indigenous knowledges, and decoloniality. He is an embodied climate and ecological activist who is committed to understanding and interrupting the devastating impacts of modern societies. He seeks meaningful mutuality of being in kinship with all life through transformed ways of perceiving, relating and becoming that are grounded in wisdom, humility, respect and generosity. He lives in one of Australia’s oldest intentional communities, cultivating a closer connection to Country and engage in an ethos of down-shifted collective sufficiency, voluntary simplicity, frugality, direct democracy and radical localisation.

Find out more about Reworlding in our website:  https://reworlding.earth
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