Wednesday May 25
Doors open 6:30 pm. 7:00pm sharp to 9:30 pm. Please arrive early!
$15 suggested donation
This goes to reimburse guest facilitators/speakers for their travel and other expenses.
Students/unwaged PWYC. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Doors open 6:30 pm. 7:00pm sharp to 9:30 pm. Please arrive early!
$15 suggested donation
This goes to reimburse guest facilitators/speakers for their travel and other expenses.
Students/unwaged PWYC. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Unify Toronto Dialogues' 2016 "Indigenize or Die" series continues...
Following on our April session's exploration of the Indigenous basis for restoring balance with urban landscapes, in this next session we look at planting seeds literally and metaphorically.
Doug Anderson from Naadmaagit Ki Group (NKG) returns, joined this time by guest facilitator Moyo Mutamba. Moyo adds his own experience with starting Ubuntu, a learning village in Zimbabwe, to help us develop plans for taking action in Toronto around re-indigenizing the land.
How do we plant "seeds of transformation"--the material and spiritual connections with the land that we need for our ongoing wellbeing and survival?
As we learned in the last session, an indigenous sense of land is about more than soil, plants and water. It is an expansive sense of place. It is a sense of relatedness to all beings of that place, from mineral to human, from Earth to sky. It embraces everything, both seen and unseen. It requires a consideration of those beings who came before, and those who will come after us.
Following on our April session's exploration of the Indigenous basis for restoring balance with urban landscapes, in this next session we look at planting seeds literally and metaphorically.
Doug Anderson from Naadmaagit Ki Group (NKG) returns, joined this time by guest facilitator Moyo Mutamba. Moyo adds his own experience with starting Ubuntu, a learning village in Zimbabwe, to help us develop plans for taking action in Toronto around re-indigenizing the land.
How do we plant "seeds of transformation"--the material and spiritual connections with the land that we need for our ongoing wellbeing and survival?
As we learned in the last session, an indigenous sense of land is about more than soil, plants and water. It is an expansive sense of place. It is a sense of relatedness to all beings of that place, from mineral to human, from Earth to sky. It embraces everything, both seen and unseen. It requires a consideration of those beings who came before, and those who will come after us.
Guest Facilitator Moyo Rainos Mutamba, MSW, RSW, PhD Candidate
Moyo is a transdisciplinary artist, facilitator, farmer and seeker. He is the Founder of Ubuntu Communiversity (Ubuntu Learning Village), a place for experimenting with learning for holistic living. Moyo is passionate about creating bold proposals for how we can live in harmony with all our relations and in the process cultivate healthy and resilient communities. He divides his time between Toronto and Zimbabwe.
About Ubuntu Learning Village in Zimbabwe
Ubuntu Learning Village is located in Serima, Gutu, Zimbabwe. It is located on 80 hectares of mixed farm land and natural forest. Ubuntu Learning Village is the unity of land, water, air, earth, creatures, people, plants and spirits, intentionally weaving together capabilities, resources, strengths, and knowledges free of hierarchies to create a community of love, respect, fullness, positive relationships, growth and sustainability. We endeavour to experiment with old methods of cooperative economics (in ChiKaranga, this is known as mushandirapamwe), feed one another, utilize skills inherent in ourselves and ultimately eliminate the cycle of one-sided dependency. We also aim to pull together our knowledges, document them, create new ideas and methods and share with local communities and the world. Our longterm vision is that in living a natural, peaceful, ecologically sustainable existence we can demonstrate the possibilities that lie in creative cooperation outside of the capitalist individualism construct.
Background
In the previous session of Unify Toronto Dialogues' 2016 Indigenize or Die series, with our guest speaker Doug Anderson we explored what it means to have indigenous relationship with land in the city.
Doug is a founder of Naadmaagit Ki Group (NKG), which works to restore indigenous responsibilities to the land and water in Toronto. NKG is working with urban indigenous people planting medicines and mound gardening, fighting invasive species, and supporting indigenous cultural learning on the land in the city. Doug took us on a visual and narrative journey along the part of the Humber River where this work has been taking place. We were challenged to ask:
● What are some of the implications of having an indigenous relationship to land in urban settings?
● How does the restoration of this relationship relate to reconciliation, decolonization and reindigenization?
● What are some of the exciting possibilities and challenges?
Drawing on previous sessions and the collective wisdom of all present we focussed on connecting to our creative spirits and in small groups we strategized on concrete actions we can take in this time and on this land to indigenize. Please see below for a graphic record of the session and a transcription of the ideas we generated.
Doug is a founder of Naadmaagit Ki Group (NKG), which works to restore indigenous responsibilities to the land and water in Toronto. NKG is working with urban indigenous people planting medicines and mound gardening, fighting invasive species, and supporting indigenous cultural learning on the land in the city. Doug took us on a visual and narrative journey along the part of the Humber River where this work has been taking place. We were challenged to ask:
● What are some of the implications of having an indigenous relationship to land in urban settings?
● How does the restoration of this relationship relate to reconciliation, decolonization and reindigenization?
● What are some of the exciting possibilities and challenges?
Drawing on previous sessions and the collective wisdom of all present we focussed on connecting to our creative spirits and in small groups we strategized on concrete actions we can take in this time and on this land to indigenize. Please see below for a graphic record of the session and a transcription of the ideas we generated.
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