In the Absence of the Sacred:
The
Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations,
| IN THE
ABSENCE OF THE SACRED: THE FAILURE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE
SURVIVAL OF THE INDIAN NATIONS.
By Jerry Mander. Sierra Club Books: San
Francisco, CA, US. 1992.
Pp. 446. Pbk. US$14.
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| In the
Absence of the Sacred is not new, but its continuing
popularity among 'third world' activists and their allies
in the west suggests that it remains worthy of critical
attention. It belongs to an emerging school of thought in
the west that has eschewed Marxist critiques and
solutions, seeking guidance instead from indigenous and
neo-primitive peoples and cultures. The work is also
kindred to the post-materialist analyses of western
civilization as found in the writings of people like
Jeremy Rifkin (The End of Work), Chellis
Glendenning (My Name Is Chellis and I'm In Recovery
from Western Civilization), Kirkpatrick Sale (Rebels
Against the Future), and Vandana Shiva (Biopolitics).
HERE |
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below, an
interview with the author of In the Absence of the Sacred:
The
Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations,
but
first, a few excerpts from the book itself:
" . . . technological evolution
is leading to something new: a worldwide, interlocked, monolithic,
technical-political web of unprecedented negative proportions." (p. 4)
" . . . We have lost the understanding
that existed in all civilizations prior to ours, and that continues to exist on
Earth today in societies that live side by side with our own; we have lost a
sense of the sacredness of the natural world." (p. 187)
" . . . We still have not developed an
effective language with which to articulate our critiques [of the technological
juggernaut]. This, in turn, is because we ourselves are part of the machine and
so we have difficulty defining its shape and direction. But even if we have this
difficulty, there are societies of people on this planet who do not.
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/AoS/theSun.html
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