So, this one doesn’t really mention clay, but allow me some poetic licence and imagine for a moment that clay is also land (which it is). I’m ashamed to say that the Land Back movement was not something I’d really engaged with or had even heard of much before this season. This is the battle for indigenous nations and people to get back land that’s been stolen from them. And yes, this is meant literally. Give it back.
Many of the bigger organisations I went to mentioned things like ‘land acknowledgments’, which seems like a step, but when we’re talking about up to and over 200acres of privately owned land in some cases, what does a mere acknowledgement that it was stolen, actually do? Not a huge amount, practically.
And land means so much. It's not just resources, though that's important, it's also culture, food, education, autonomy, commuinity.
We take so much for granted. And so much of what we have was built on the profits of genocide and unspeakable violence. Not to be a downer, but we really need to start doing more than ‘acknowledging’ this. What does collective liberation look like in a world so divided? How can we start thinking about redistribution and changing our thinking from growth to thrive, from scarcity to abundance? These are not easy questions to answer, but I hope we can start to work through them together, on whoever’s land we might be standing on right now.
Contributor:Jeremy Dennis, President of Ma's House https://www.mashouse.studio/
Clay Commons was written and produced by Eva Masterman, editing supported by Travis Roush. This podcast was supported by Newcastle University, and the Northern Bridge AHRC Consortium. Artwork created by Kelly Jade
Audio credits:
- "Ambience, Children Playing, Distant, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
- "Ambience, Seaside Waves, Close, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org
- Music in background is kindly given by Jonathan Hawk @ambient_techno and his recording Youngblood Singers - Grand Entry Song - Shinnecock Pow Wow 2022 Saturday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NVmX7I7M_Y
