Peter Michael Bauer, executive director of Rewild Portland, returns again to talk about the re-release of his book Rewild or Die.
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Pulling from the work of earlier Anarcho-Primitivists, Peter, as his character Urban Scout, uses the framework of persona and performance art to create a trickster figure to challenge what it means to practice primitive skills and seek to rewild ourselves in a world that is industrialized, homogenized, and pushes back with violence against efforts to return to living as a free, undomesticated human being. I find that the book serves as a starting place for anyone new to the idea of human rewilding because of the topical approach, dissecting individual ideas vs. rewilding into a cohesive whole that gets to the root of what rewilding is, is not, and where it runs into conflict or cooperation with other ideas.
Rewild or Die, written with short, focused chapters that covers a wide range of subjects, also serves as a counterpoint to challenge other perspectives, such as veganism or permaculture. My personal journey to rewilding began through primitive skills through a copy of Richard Graves Bushcraft, then learning alongside experimental archaeologists as a young adult, and then from conservationists who rewild the land with animals. Later I discovered permaculture and what it means to build lasting communities. These two interest draw me ever more to human rewilding.
In that context storytelling, mythmaking, and culture creation form the foundation to create communities. Those are the communities that hold sacred the stories, roles, and landbase required to allow for a return to a way of life that honors ourselves and the other-than-human. We can live in cooperation together, tending to one another, in a way that goes beyond the promises of permaculture, agroforestry or regenerative agriculture. Rewild or Die continues the journey, and is a worthy addition to your library.
Resources
Rewild or Die
Rewild Portland
Rewild Portland Online Fundraiser
Deep Green Resistance
Black and Green Review (Anarcho-Primitivist Journal)
Geeks, MOPS, and sociopaths in subculture evolution BarCampFoo Camp (Wiki)
The Fifth World - Children of Wormwood
Rewild.com Forums
Related Interviews
Peter Michael Bauer - Rewilding Permaculture
Peter Michael Bauer - Human vs. Conservation Rewilding