Name: Ancestral Future
SKU: 56146936
Price: 608.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Ailton Krenak
ISBN: 9781509560738

Type

Physical Book

Author

Ailton Krenak

Translated by

Alex Brostoff

Jamille Pinheiro Dias

Publisher

Polity Press

Language

English

Pages

108

Format

Paperback

ISBN13

9781509560738

Edition No.

Synopsis "Ancestral Future"

In response to the damage caused by centuries of colonial ravaging and the current ecological, political and social crises, the leading Indigenous thinker and activist Ailton Krenak warns against the power of corporate capitalism and its destructive impact. Capitalism encroaches on every corner of the planet and orients us toward a future of promised progress, achievement and growth, but this future doesn't exist - we just imagine it. This orientation to the future also blinds us to what exists around us, to the plants and animals with which we share the Earth and to the rivers that flow through our lands. Rivers are not just resources to be exploited by us or channels to carry away our waste, they are beings that connect us with our past. If there is a future to imagine, it is ancestral, since it is already present in the here and now and in that which exists around us, in the rivers and mountains and trees that are our kin. In a spoken language that has the mark of ancestral oral wisdom, Krenak offers a new perspective that challenges and disrupts some of the assumptions that underpin Western attitudes and mentalities. His work will be of great interest to anyone concerned about the climate crisis and the worsening plight of our planet.

Ailton Krenak

(Author)

View Author's Page

Ailton Krenak (Itabirinha, Minas Gerais, 1953) is an indigenous leader, philosopher, environmentalist, and Brazilian writer, member of the Krenak people. A key figure in the defense of indigenous rights in Brazil, he actively participated in the Constituent Assembly of 1988 and founded organizations such as the Union of Indigenous Nations and the Alliance of the Peoples of the Forest. In 2023, he became the first indigenous person to join the Brazilian Academy of Letters, occupying chair number 5.

His work, focused on ecology, spirituality, and criticism of the Western civilizational model, includes notable titles such as Ideas to Postpone the End of the World (2019), Life is Not Useful (2020), Ancestral Future (2022), and Places of Origin (2021, co-authored with Yussef Campos). In 2024, he was awarded by France with the National Order of the Legion of Honor for his defense of indigenous peoples and the environment.

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