Rootedness

Roots are good to think with indeed most of us use them as a metaphor every day. A root can signify the hiddenness of our beginnings, or, in its bifurcating structure, the various possibilities in the life of an individual or a collective. This book looks at rootedness as a metaphor for the genealogical origins of people and their attachment to place and how this metaphor transformed so rapidly in twentieth-century Europe. Christy Wampole s case study is France, with its contradictory legacies of Enlightenment universalism, anti-Semitism, and colonialism. At one time, French nationalist rhetoric portrayed the Jews as unrooted and thus unrighteous people. After the two world wars, the root metaphor figured in the new French philosophy (notably Deleuze and Guattari). And recently, Caribbean thinkers in Haiti, Guadeloupe, and Martinique have debated whether their roots were in Africa, France, the Caribbean, or in some pan-national network that could not be identified on a map. Walpole argues that while the metaphor was perhaps once useful in the establishment of communities and identities, that usefulness has expired. The longer we remain attached to the figure of rootedness, the more discord it sows. Giving up on the metaphor of rootedness, Wampole urges, allows us to see at last that we are in fact unbound by the land we inhabit."

rootedness Discover the insights and lessons of architect Juhani Pallasmaa In Rootedness: Reflections for Young Architects, Juhani Pallasmaa delivers an insightful and expansive collection of his most compelling ideas into architecture’s position among arts and culture. Pallasmaa speaks to architecture students and young professionals, discussing each topic with sincerity and openness, suggesting what can be learned from areas of culture beyond the boundaries of familiar professional disciplines. He outlines the growing need for an architecture based in self-awareness, reconnection to the environment, and a sense of ethical responsibility. Each essay in Rootedness was initially conceived and presented as an educational lecture and has been carefully edited with clarifications, refinements, and valuable expansions. Accompanying sketches by the author emphasize the personal and intimate nature of the essays. The book also includes: Explorations of perception, creative practice, and the need for an ethical stance Thoughts, meditations, and challenges emerging from the author’s search for identity and purpose in his architectural work A wealth of references within the essays, as well as recommendations for books and films from which readers may draw further inspiration Designed for students of architecture at any age, Rootedness: Reflections for Young Architects will also inspire professional architects, designers, and those in other creative professions.

What does it mean to become rooted in the land? How can we become better relatives to our greatest teacher, the Earth? Becoming Rooted invites us to live out a deeply spiritual relationship with the whole community of creation and with Creator. Through meditations and ideas for reflection and action, Randy Woodley, an activist, author, scholar, and Cherokee descendant, recognized by the Keetoowah Band, guides us on a one-hundred-day journey to reconnect with the Earth. Woodley invites us to come away from the American dream--otherwise known as an Indigenous nightmare--and get in touch with the water, land, plants, and creatures around us, with the people who lived on that land for thousands of years prior to Europeans' arrival, and with ourselves. In walking toward the harmony way, we honor balance, wholeness, and connection. Creation is always teaching us. Our task is to look, and to listen, and to live well. She is teaching us now.

The alchemy for real personal transformation lies in digging up your own medicine and tools. Your ancestors, with all their struggles, strength, and resilience, are your greatest guides. Anyone scrolling through Robyn Moreno’s social media and seeing her with her adorable kids and taking the stage at empowerment conferences would have thought she had it all together. But the truth behind her well-curated pics was that Robyn was burnt out: in the midst of a full-on, midlife meltdown caused by that all-too-familiar working mom tightrope walk coupled with painful family drama. To save her soul, sanity, and family, Robyn quit her manic #mommyboss existence, and set out on a 260-day spiritual journey based on an ancient Mexica (Aztec) calendar, studying the medicine of her Mexican grandmothers: curanderismo. She learned about sustos—soul losses—and ser—your true essence. She reconnected with family she hadn’t spoken to in ages, and learned fantastical stories about her great-grandmother, Mama Natalia, who was a curandera. She took cooking lessons with a tough but tender-hearted Mexican chef and found community, and joy, in hiking. She had dramatic moments with her sisters, her mom, her husband, and herself. And finally, she went into the jungle of Belize and found healing in the most unexpected way. Reckoning with the hidden stories and aspects of her family and her Mexican American culture that were transforming and heartbreaking brought Robyn to an unshakable understanding of who she is and how she fits into this world. And, by looking to her past to decide which traditions, which medicines, to pass on to her daughters—and which to leave behind—she began to root into the person she was meant to be.

Deepen your connection to the natural world with this inspiring meditation, "a path to the place where science and spirit meet" (Robin Wall Kimmerer). In Rooted, cutting-edge science supports a truth that poets, artists, mystics, and earth-based cultures across the world have proclaimed over millennia: life on this planet is radically interconnected. Our bodies, thoughts, minds, and spirits are affected by the whole of nature, and they affect this whole in return. In this time of crisis, how can we best live upon our imperiled, beloved earth? Award-winning writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s highly personal new book is a brilliant invitation to live with the earth in both simple and profound ways—from walking barefoot in the woods and reimagining our relationship with animals and trees, to examining the very language we use to describe and think about nature. She invokes rootedness as a way of being in concert with the wilderness—and wildness—that sustains humans and all of life. In the tradition of Rachel Carson, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Mary Oliver, Haupt writes with urgency and grace, reminding us that at the crossroads of science, nature, and spirit we find true hope. Each chapter provides tools for bringing our unique gifts to the fore and transforming our sense of belonging within the magic and wonder of the natural world.

Hailed by Andre Gide as the patron saint of all outsiders, Simone Weil's short life was ample testimony to her beliefs. In 1942 she fled France along with her family, going firstly to America. She then moved back to London in order to work with de Gaulle. Published posthumously The Need for Roots was a direct result of this collaboration. Its purpose was to help rebuild France after the war. In this, her most famous book, Weil reflects on the importance of religious and political social structures in the life of the individual. She wrote that one of the basic obligations we have as human beings is to not let another suffer from hunger. Equally as important, however, is our duty towards our community: we may have declared various human rights, but we have overlooked the obligations and this has left us self-righteous and rootless. She could easily have been issuing a direct warning to us today, the citizens of Century 21.

A life-changing journey from the wasteland of modern society to a place of nourishment and connection. Fifth anniversary edition, with new afterword for 2021. 'Mind-blowing. An anthem for all we could be . . . I sincerely hope every woman who can read has the time and space to read it.' Manda Scott, author of Boudica and A Treachery of Spies 'This is the core of our task: to respect and revere ourselves, and so bring about a world in which women are respected and revered, recognised once again as holding the life-giving power of the earth itself.' If Women Rose Rootedhas been described as both transformative and essential. Sharon Blackie leads the reader on a quest to find their place in the world, drawing inspiration from the wise and powerful women in native mythology, and guidance from contemporary role models who have re-rooted themselves in land and community and taken responsibility for shaping the future. Beautifully written, honest and moving,If Women Rose Rooted is a passionate song to a different kind of femininity, a rallying, feminist cry for the rewilding of womanhood;reclaiming our role as guardians of the land. 'Powerful and inspiring.' Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley

This book is dedicated to the notion that human lives are enriched by participation in a social community that is integrated into the natural landscape of a particular place. The writers explore the loss of community, the philosophical foundations of communities, Amish communities, and the current renewal of community life.

Development interventions often generate contradictions around questions of who benefits from development and which communities are targeted for intervention. This book examines how the Baka, who live in Eastern Cameroon, assert forms of belonging in order to participate in development interventions, and how community life is shaped and reshaped through these interventions. Often referred to as ‘forest people’, the Baka have witnessed many recent development interventions that include competing and contradictory policies such as ‘civilize’, assimilate and integrate the Baka into ‘full citizenship’, conserve the forest and wildlife resources, and preserve indigenous cultures at the verge of extinction.

The landscape of Christian spirituality in the West is no longer lush with green grass and wild flowers blooming. Instead, across the country we find dry terrain where churches no longer can expect interested seekers--yet most of our solutions for addressing this predicament link to anxiety around our performance and personality. Rather than going back to the boardroom to cook up new techniques for a trendier church, let's ask more meaningfully rooted questions. Do we know how to be present in our neighborhoods? Do we know how to be present in community? Do we know how to be present to the in-breaking kingdom of God? There is a growing groundswell discovering that we have become uprooted and detached from each other in the way we express being the church. We need a subterranean movement that plunges below the surface into a way of being the people of God that carries an unwavering incarnational creed. Dan White Jr. uses crisp criticism, narrative theology, and tangible practices to uncover a hopeful pathway for being radically rooted in God's world.