Rhythms of Time Along the Water

9 Responses

  1. Annis Pratt says:

    Dear Matt: what a fascinating comparison of cultures! While reading it, I couldn’t help but think of two wetlands/delta folk I have done a lot of research on: The East Anglian Fen Tigers who led their self-sustaining and fiercely independent people to fight off the drainage schemes of “The Merchant Adventurers” (yes, they were called that!) from 1630-1930; and the equally fierce and independently self-sustaining Madan, the “Marsh Arabs” of the Mesopotamian wetlands that Saddam Hussein tried to drain in order to subdue them. (my blog on this is at http://bit.ly/1K1BecT) These two cultures form the basis for the invented world of my Infinite Games Series, where I use the virtues of the Marshlanders and Vices of their Early Modern Capitalist enemies in a parable of our present “Great Turning,” as Joanna Macy describes our hopes for a shift from industrial growth to a life-sustaining civilization.

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