In Conversation with Riane Eisler

4100 Words17 Pages
Le Simplegadi 143 Stefano Mercanti In Conversation with Riane Eisler Cultural historian and evolutionary theorist Riane Eisler talks to Le Simplegadi about her vision of new human possibilities and her belief in humanity’s capacity for caring and mutuality as an alternative to the violence and domination of much of recorded history. In her ground-breaking works, The Chalice and the Blade (1987) and Sacred Pleasure (1995), both published in more than 20 languages including the recent Italian re-editions by Udine University Press Forum, she gives evidence of “another history”, that of the Neolithic before the violent invasions of pastoralist nomads, in which an equalitarian mode of living was far more central than the patriarchal dominator configuration. This resulted, as Eisler describes, in relations of “linking” rather than rigid “ranking”, and what she calls “hierarchies of actualisation” rather than hierarchies of domination. This work provides a new radical perspective on the ways human relationships and institutions were structured and how they can be again structured, ranging from culture, education, and economics to spirituality, sexuality, and family and other intimate relationships. Stefano Mercanti According to your Cultural Transformation Theory, the evolutionary movement of humanity does not follow a linear path. Originally, in the earliest cradles of civilization, as shown by the archaeological and mythical evidence in The Chalice and the Blade and Sacred Pleasure, it was more in a partnership direction; not ideal but more peaceful and equitable. Then there was a shift to domination. And now we have reached a crucial system bifurcation where there is an opportunity for transformative social and ideological change, but also the possibility for the dominator system to reconstitute itself in new Stefano Mercanti. In Conversation with Riane

More about In Conversation with Riane Eisler

Open Document