<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:bookman old style, new york, times, serif;font-size:10pt"><div class="" style=""><span class="" style="">Thank you SO much for this Michel and especially Dante, who found this and shared this piece! As I truly believe this is an essential and critical discussion for any true transformation of a so deeply and aggressively imbalanced patriarchal society and world, and that the necessary emotional intelligence critical to getting back to any true "balance" or human and planet sustainability, has been broken and deeply damaged by that very left-brain, overly rationalized focus that obscures these issues. And is so deeply reinforced by our educational system, which deepens this very imbalance.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span
class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; " class=""><span class="">It's just a great piece, Dante but the key -- and I have found this to be the hardest for those trained well in cognitive displacement of inner heart "knowing" -- is to actually <span style="font-style: italic;">understand this emotionally</span>, not just cognitively. That's when actual human relationships are transformed, when we forge the paths of learning from each other that do not deny our different ways of understanding, but actually balances them so we can hear the gifts offered by that very "difference". Over cultures and histories, as well as genders.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style:
normal; " class=""><span class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; " class=""><span class="">Anyway, critical to deconstruct as it so often is the underlying root of much of the dissension and "will to power over others" that is taught at the root of patriarchy but not, as this piece suggests and all my historical work has found as well, at the "power <span style="font-style: italic;">with</span> one another" model at the ground of matriarchy. </span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif;
background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style="">The key is to teach that at the level it is most understood, the level of the emotional heart, critical to any successful parenting of any human life and ultimately the planet that supports that and all life.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style="">Just, "Thank you!"</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style=""><br
class="" style=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style="">Warmly,</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style="">June</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13px; font-family: 'bookman old style', 'new york', times, serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; " class=""><span class="" style=""><span class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364893"
style="">June Gorman, Educator and Educational Theorist</span><br clear="none" class="" style=""><span class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364891" style="">Co-founder, Transformative Education Forum<</span><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1403273373250_3131" target="_blank" href="http://www.tef-global.org/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: purple; outline-width: 0px; ">http://www.tef-global.org/</a><span class="" style="">></span><br clear="none" class="" style=""><span class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364889" style="">Education Advisor, UN SafePlanet Campaign <</span><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1403273373250_3130" target="_blank" href="http://www.safepla.net/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: purple; outline-width: 0px; "><span class="" id="yiv1038176184lw_1395677978_0"
style="">http://www.safepla.net/</span></a><span class="" style="">></span><br clear="none" class="" style=""><span class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364897" style="">Board Project Director for Outreach, International Model United Nations Association<</span><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364908" target="_blank" href="http://imuna.org/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: purple; outline-width: 0px; ">http://imuna.org/</a><span class="" style="">></span><br clear="none" class="" style=""><span class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364899" style="">Steering Committee, (UNESCO/Global Compact) K-12 Sector for Sustainability Education <</span><a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364906" target="_blank" href="http://www.uspartnership.org/main/view_archive/1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255); color: purple; outline-width: 0px; "><span class="" id="yiv1038176184lw_1395677978_1" style="">http://www.uspartnership.org/main/view_archive/1</span></a><span class="" style="">> )</span><br clear="none" class="" style=""><span class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364887" style="">Member, UN Education Caucus for Sustainable Development</span><br clear="none" class="" style=""><span class="" id="yiv1038176184yui_3_16_0_1_1402679333883_1364904" style="">Member, UN Commons Cluster</span><br class="" style=""></span></div><div class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></div> <div style="font-family: bookman old style, new york, times, serif; font-size: 10pt;" class=""> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;" class=""> <div dir="ltr" class="" style=""> <hr size="1" class="" style=""> <font size="2" face="Arial" class="" style=""> <b class=""
style=""><span style="font-weight:bold;" class="">From:</span></b> Michel Bauwens <michel@p2pfoundation.net><br class="" style=""> <b class="" style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="">To:</span></b> p2p-foundation <p2p-foundation@lists.ourproject.org> <br class="" style=""> <b class="" style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="">Sent:</span></b> Saturday, August 16, 2014 4:49 PM<br class="" style=""> <b class="" style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;" class="">Subject:</span></b> [P2P-F] Fwd: Matriarchal Studies<br class="" style=""> </font> </div> <div class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><div id="yiv4858021755" class="" style=""><div dir="ltr" class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><div class="" style="">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br class="" style="">From: <b class="" style="">Dante-Gabryell Monson</b> <span dir="ltr" class="" style=""><<a rel="nofollow"
ymailto="mailto:dante.monson@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:dante.monson@gmail.com" class="" style="">dante.monson@gmail.com</a>></span><br class="" style="">
Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 5:54 PM<br class="" style="">Subject: Matriarchal Studies<br class="" style="">To: Michel Bauwens <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:michelsub2004@gmail.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:michelsub2004@gmail.com" class="" style="">michelsub2004@gmail.com</a>><br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><div dir="ltr" class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><div class="" style=""><div dir="ltr" class="" style="">
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.hagia.de/en/matriarchy.html" class="" style="">http://www.hagia.de/en/matriarchy.html</a><br class="" style=""><br class="" style=""><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.hagia.de/en/matriarchy/matriarchal-studies.html" class="" style="">http://www.hagia.de/en/matriarchy/matriarchal-studies.html</a><br class="" style="">
<br class="" style=""><h1 class="" style="">Matriarchy</h1>
<div class="" style="">Matriarchies are not just a reversal of patriarchy, with women ruling
over men – as the usual misinterpretation would have it. Matriarchies
are mother-centered societies, they are based on <i class="" style="">maternal values:</i>
care-taking, nurturing, motherliness, which holds for everybody: for
mothers and those who are not mothers, for women and men alike.
</div>
<div class="" style="">Matriarchal societies are consciously built upon these maternal
values and motherly work, and this is why they are much more realistic
than patriarchies. They are, on principle, need-oriented. Their precepts
aim to meet everyone’s needs with the greatest benefit. So, in
matriarchies, mothering – which originates as a biological fact – is
transformed into a <i class="" style="">cultural model.</i> This model is much more
appropriate to the human condition than the way patriarchies
conceptualise motherhood and use it to make women, and especially
mothers, into slaves.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<h2 class="" style="">The deep structure of “matriarchal society” <span style="font-weight:normal;" class="">(a structural definition)</span>:</h2>
<div class="" style=""><i class="" style=""> </i>
</div>
<div class="" style="">With matriarchal cultures, equality means more than just a levelling
of differences. Natural differences between the genders and the
generations are respected and honoured, but they never serve to create
hierarchies, as is common in patriarchy. The different genders and
generations have their own dignity, and through complementary areas of
activity, they function in concert one other. More precisely,
matriarchies are societies with complementary equality, where great care
is taken to provide a balance. This applies to the balance between
genders, among generations, and between humans and nature. Maternal
values as ethical principles pervade all areas of a matriarchal society.
It creates an attitude of care-taking, nurturing, and peacemaking.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">This can be observed on all levels of society: the economic level,
the social level, the political level and the areas of their worldviews
and faiths.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style=""><b class="" style=""><i class="" style=""> At the social level,</i></b> matriarchal societies
are based on the clan, and on the “symbolic order of the mother”. This
also means maternal values as spiritual principles, one that humans take
from nature. Mother Nature cares for all beings, however different they
may be. The same applies to motherliness: a good mother cares for all
her children, embracing their diversity.
</div>
<div class="" style="">This holds true for men as well. If a man in a matriarchal society
desires to acquire status among his peers, or even become a
representative of the clan to the outside word, then he must be like a
“good mother”.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">But in matriarchies, you don’t have to be a biological mother in
order to be acknowledged as a woman, because matriarchies practice the
common motherhood of a group of sisters. Each individual sister does not
necessarily have to have children, but together they are all “mothers”
of any children that any of them have. This motherhood is founded on the
freedom of women to decide on their own about whether or not to have
biological children.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">This is possible because matriarchal people live together in large kinship groups, formed according to the principle of <i class="" style="">matrilineality</i>.
The clan’s name, and all social status and political titles, are passed
on through the mother’s line. Such a matri-clan consists of at least
three generations of women, along with their brothers, nephews and
maternal uncles. In classic cases, the matri-clan lives in one big
clan-house. This is called <i class="" style="">matrilocality. </i>Their spouses or
lovers stay only over-night, in a pattern called “visiting-marriage”.
These principles of matrilineality and matrilocality put mothers at the
center; in this way women guide their clans without ruling.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">In order to achieve social cohesion among the clans of a village or
city, complex marriage conventions have been developed that link them in
mutually beneficial ways. The intended effect is that all inhabitants
of a village or city are related to each other by birth or by marriage.
This shapes a society that sees itself as a big clan, where everybody is
“mother” or “sister” or “brother” to everybody else. Thus matriarchies
can be defined at the social level as <i class="" style="">non-hierarchical, horizontal societies of matrilineal kinship.</i>
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">This social order based on motherhood includes far reaching consequences for the <i class="" style=""><b class="" style="">economical level: </b></i>Matriarchal
economy is a subsistence economy. There is no such thing as private
property, and there are no territorial claims. The people simply have
usage rights on the soil they till, or the pastures their animals graze,
for Mother Earth can not be owned or cut up in pieces. She gives the
fruits of the fields and the young animals to all people. Parcels of
land and a certain number of animals are given to each matri-clan, and
are worked on communally.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">Most importantly, women have the power of disposition over goods and
clan houses, and especially over the sources of nourishment: fields,
flocks and food. All the goods are put in the hands of the clan mother,
the matriarch, and she, mother of all the clan members, distributes them
equally among her children and grand-children. She is responsible for
the sustenance and protection of all clan members.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">In a matriarchal community, the clans enjoy perfect mutuality: every
relative advantage, or disadvantage, in terms of acquiring goods is
mediated by social guidelines. For example, at the seasonal festivals of
the agricultural year, clans that are comparatively better off will
invite all the inhabitants to be their guests. The members of such a
clan organize the banquet, the rituals, and the music and dances of one
of the annual festivals – and then give away their goods as a gift to
all their neighbours. By doing this, they gain nothing except honor. At
the next festival in the cycle, another lucky clan will step up,
outdoing itself by inviting everybody in the village or neighbourhood,
entertaining them all, and dispensing presents.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">Since this is the general attitude, matriarchal economy can be called
a “gift economy”. It is the economic manifestation of maternal values,
which prevents development of an exchange economy and instead fully
achieves a gift economy. Due to these features, matriarchies can be
defined at the economical level as <i class="" style="">societies of balanced economic reciprocity, based on the circulation of gifts.</i>
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style=""><i class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></i>
</div>
<div class="" style=""><i class="" style=""> </i>
</div>
<div class="" style="">The patterns of<b class="" style=""><i class="" style=""> the political level</i></b> follow the principle of consensus, which means <i class="" style="">unanimity</i>
regarding each decision. To manifest a principle like this in practice,
a society must be specifically organized to do so, and matrilinear
kinship lines are, once again, the starting point.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">The basis<i class="" style=""> </i>of each decision-making is the individual clan
house. Matters that concern the clan house are decided upon by the women
and men in a consensus process, of which the matriarch is the
facilitator. Each person has only one vote – even the matriarch – and no
member of the household is excluded.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">The same applies to decisions concerning the whole village. The clan delegates meet together in<i class="" style=""> </i>the
village council, but do not make decisions themselves; they simply
communicate the decisions that have been made in their clan houses, and
move back and forth, until a consensus decision is reached by the whole
village. The same applies at the regional level. The delegates move
between the local council and the regional council until consensus of
all the villages is reached.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">The origin of all politics is in the clan houses, where the people
live, and in this way, a true “grass roots democracy” is put into
practice. The result of these practices is that<i class="" style=""> </i>matriarchies are <i class="" style="">egalitarian societies of consensus.</i> This clearly shows how maternal values also permeate political practice.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">But such a societal system as matriarchy could not function as a
whole without a deep, supporting and all-permeating spiritual attitude. <b class="" style=""><i class="" style="">At</i><i class="" style=""> the spiritual and cultural level, </i></b>matriarchal societies do not have hierarchic religions based on an omnipotent male God. In matriarchies, divinity is immanent<i class="" style="">,</i>
for the whole world is regarded as divine: as feminine divine. This is
evident in the widely held concept of the universe as the Great Goddess
who brought forth everything by birth, and of the earth as the Great
Mother who created everything living. And everyone, and everything, is
endowed with divinity by virtue of being a child of the Great Mother
Nature.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">In such a culture, everything is spiritual. In their festivals, which
follow the cycle of the seasons and the cycle of life, everything is
celebrated. There is no separation between sacred and secular, so the
everyday tasks also have ritual significance. In this sense matriarchal
societies are sacred ones.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">The entire societies are constructed in the image of the creative
Mother Nature. This divine mother is reflected in every woman’s being,
and in her abilities to create. Every social, economic and political
action is informed by the principle of the world’s – and the universe’s –
all-encompassing maternal attitude.
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">Therefore, on the spiritual level, matriarchies are <i class="" style="">sacred societies and cultures of the Divine Feminine or Goddess.</i>
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style=""><span style="text-decoration:underline;" class="">Read more in:</span>
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">Heide Goettner-Abendroth (ed.):
</div>
<div class="" style=""><b class="" style=""><i class="" style="">Societies of Peace. Matriarchies Past, Present and Future</i></b>
</div>
<div class="" style=""><b class="" style=""><i class="" style=""> </i></b> Inanna Press, York University, Toronto/Canada 2009
</div>
<div class="" style="">
</div>
<div class="" style="">Heide Goettner-Abendroth:
</div>
<div class="" style=""><b class="" style=""><i class="" style="">Matriarchal Societies. Studies on Indigenous Cultures across the Globe</i></b>
</div>
<div class="" style=""><b class="" style=""><i class="" style=""> </i></b>Peter Lang, New York/USA, March 2012
</div><br class="" style=""></div>
</div><br class="" style=""></div>
</div><br class="" style=""><br clear="all" class="" style=""><div class="" style=""><br class="" style=""></div>-- <br class="" style=""><div dir="ltr" class="" style=""><div class="" style="">Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan" class="" style="">http://en.wiki.floksociety.org/w/Research_Plan</a> </div>
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