The Edges in the Middle, III: Báyò Akómoláfé and Indy Johar

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May 24, 2023

Indy Johar, architect and systems-change thinker who builds regenerative urban and governance models. Conversation explores rethinking the self as entangled with other life, how language and property deaden agency, the profusion of intelligence beyond human minds, and alternative temporalities like chrono-feminism that open multiple futures.

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ANECDOTE

Anansi Story As Metaphor For Hot Minds

Báyò Akómoláfé recounts the Anansi story where greed leads to a burning head as a metaphor for our 'hot' minds.
He uses the trickster tale to introduce a 'new theory of the self' as a gasp and ongoing becoming.

ADVICE

Stop Rescuing Symptoms Prevent Upstream Causes

Stop rescuing symptoms and prevent upstream causes instead, shifting from repetitive aid to systemic change.
Báyò uses the two monks story to argue therapy and institutions must address the political and ecological 'client'.

INSIGHT

Language Of Dead Things Shapes Violence

Seeing the world through the 'language of dead things' — economics and objectification — enlivens why we treat nature as inert.
Indy Johar argues re-enlivening requires perceiving agency in others and shifting language away from noun-focused objectification.

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Continuing the conversation series, “The Edges in the Middle,” presented in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute, For The Wild is delighted to share Báyò Akómoláfé in conversation with Indy Johar of Dark Matter Labs.

Speaking on the theme “A New Theory of the Self,” Báyò and Indy dive into the milieu of life forms entangled together on earth. The conversation asks listeners to reconsider the objective nature of self and the word around us that has been so deeply ingrained within the architecture of society. Rejecting these notions of completion and singularity, Báyò and Indy engage in a conversation that calls attention to the aliveness of the world, to the agency and intelligence of our entangled minds, and to life as an ongoing process. How might we move beyond constraining ideas of order, power, and control in order to recognize and take part in relational ecological emergence?

“The Edges in the Middle” is a series of conversations between Báyò Akómoláfé and thought companions like john a. powell, V, Naomi Klein, and more. These limited episodes have been adapted from Báyò’s work as the Global Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute. In this role, Báyò has been holding a series of public conversations on issues of justice and belonging for the Institute's Democracy & Belonging Forum, which connects and resources civic leaders in Europe and the US who are committed to bridging across difference to strengthen democracy and advance belonging in both regions and around the world. Báyò's conversations encourage us to rethink justice, hope, and belonging by sitting amidst the noise, not trying to cover it up with pleasant rhythms. To learn more about the Democracy & Belonging Forum, visit democracyandbelongingforum.org.

Music by Sitka Sun, generously provided by The Long Road Society Record Label. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.

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