Paola totoro biography of barack obama
Julia Watson on the Power of Indigenous Technologies to Transform Our Planet
Episode 35
Interview by Andrew Zuckerman
Julia Watson is really into TEK. Not necessarily the Silicon Valley variety of tech, but rather traditional ecological knowledge. An anthropologist, environmentalist, activist, and landscape designer, Watson has become a leading researcher of indigenous communities, closely studying the vast implications of their centuries-old (in certain cases, millennia-old) innovations. In the face of today’s climate crisis, Watson’s new book, Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism (Taschen), a culmination of years of research in 18 countries around the globe, is poised to become something of a bible for a growing design movement that’s focused on harnessing nature-based technologies and better understanding how we can all live in closer harmony with the earth.
Born in Australia, Watson studied landscape architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, where she focused on eco-technologies and preservation of sacred spaces. Currently, she teaches urban design at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Planning and Preservation, as well as at Harvard, and runs her own design studio that’s oriented toward the practice of “rewilding.”
On this episode of Time Sensitive, Watson speaks with Andrew about her deep research into various indigenous communities, the symbiotic relationship between culture and nature, her perspective on the recent Australian bushfires, and more.
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CHAPTERS
Watson describes the seven-year process of research and writing that lead to her publishing of her insightful new book, Lo-TEK.
Zuckerman brings up two communities and technologies that stood out to him in Watson’s book: the Khasis and the living footbridges in India and the Uros’s totora-reed floating islands on Lake Titicaca, in Peru.
Watson and Zuckerman go back and forth on subjects including deep time, the Anthropocene, greenwashing, the airsp American Factory (photo by Ian Cook © courtesy of Sundance Institute). PremiumBeat: How did you come to be involved with American Factory? Did you have a previous working relationship with directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert? Chad Cannon: I first heard about the film from a friend I had met during the Sundance Composer Labs in 2016. That person referred me to Steven and Julia, knowing I had a lot of experience working on projects connected to Asia. This was my first project with them, and it was incredible to learn about the work they have done for many decades now. They are among the most accomplished documentary filmmakers in the history of the genre. American Factory (Netflix). PB: The Obamas created Higher Ground Productions, which produced American Factory. Michelle Obama said, “Our goal isn’t just to make people think, we want to make people feel and reach out of their comfort zone.” Did that mandate play into the way you approached the score for American Factory? CC:American Factory is definitely a film that accomplishes Michelle Obama’s stated goal. First, everything about the Fuyao Glass factory is an exercise in pushing the limits of comfort zones. There’s the CEO, Cao Dewang — who hails from Fujian Province — a self-made man who, in many ways, bucks stereotypes of the Communist China elite and is a pioneer in his efforts to create such a huge factory in the heartland of the American Midwest. There are the Chinese workers who are sent to Dayton, Ohio to train the Americans, and find themselves in a completely foreign land — complete with carp fishing, shooting guns, and Twinkies. Then, there are the American workers who find themselves in a very foreign work environment, even though the factory is in their own neighborhood, and who are blown away by everything t A spontaneous conversation (aka our minds and thoughts are all over the place): References: Masterclass BLACK History Freedom & Love Season 2 Ep. 2 Know the Black Intellectual Tradition “We all have blind spots. We all have a lens through which we view the world that has no monopoly on truth, or beauty, or goodness. So as a revolutionary Christian, I don’t believe revolutionary Christians have a monopoly on the way the world is. We miss out on some things. I can’t conceive of myself without Malcolm X, a revolutionary Muslim....The variety of voices all around the country and the world have to be taken seriously, especially when you know that you are fallible. You are finite. And you are fallen. And therefore, you got something to learn. So I can read as widely as I can. I can learn and listen to my Indigenous brothers and sisters, many of whom when they hear the word “Christianity,” they look for a weapon because Christianity subordinated them, abused them, mistreated them, was a rationalization of genocidal attacks on them. And I understand that even as a Christian, you see? And you could imagine the variety of the other voices. Sister Bell Hooks, what a towering figure she is. She’s Buddhist now. I got to listen to the Buddhist traditions including Bell Hooks, including Charles Johnson, …I think all of us want to recognize that we have got something to learn from other people who disagree with us. It’s not just a matter of ‘I got a conservative friend. I got a non-Christian, or a non-Islam, or an atheistic partner. No. They got something to say. They’ve got something to teach us. And yet, in the end, you’re g Not too many cards today, but all with the common theme of featuring Miyazaki Hayao’s characters from Studio Ghibli films. Still unearthing older unlogged (unblogged?) cards; most of these arrrived in 2017-2018, but there is one from this month! These were all received through Postcrossing Forum tags. Let’s go with my favorite two first! The one on the left is from Japan, and the sender writes, “do you know Totoro? Totoro is character of Ghibli series – Japanese animation movie. This character is very loved in Japan. Totoro’s goods are sold a lot. This is nengajo postcard. In Japan we sent (as a greeting) postcard to celebrate New Year.” Next two cards have great images from My Neighbor Totoro; the top card came to me from Japan, and the bottom one from China. The two poster-style cards side-by-side here are from Russia & the Netherlands, and both of the senders told me they were about to go see Disney “live-action” remakes: “Lion King,” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” respectively. The last two cards move away from Totoro, to the less-cute side of Ghibli (I’m definitely a fan of the more-cute side of Ghibli). Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind came from Japan, and Princess Mononoke came from right here in the U.S. What do you like the best today? Before you answer, check out all of the stamps, stickers, & washi tape! Lots of cool little things to enjoy. One of the upsides of being so horribly behind in catalogin Composer Chad Cannon talks about his work, including the first project from Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, American Factory.
Naoness: The Power of Connection
The second card was from Serbia, and the sender tells me the first Studio Ghibli film they saw was Princess Mononoke, and the most recent was Grave of the Fireflies.
(oh, that was a very nice otter sticker)