DR. BAYO AKOMOLAFE on Coming Alive to Other Senses

We are so honored to share an episode with you from one of our favorite podcasts, FOR THE WILD.

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“The fugitive is the figure of the Anthropocene, a political invitation to unlearn ‘mastery,’ to fall to the Earth, to learn how to commune with soil… In a sense, the fugitive answers the question that is hidden within the words of my Elders, when they say: ‘in order to find your way, you must become lost.’”

Returning guest Bayo Akomolafe guides listeners on a journey to lose oneself and leave behind the ties that bind us to world views that do not serve humanity’s wholeness. Touching on the historical roots of fugitivity from the politics of the slave ship and beyond, Bayo challenges us to lean into the “political un-project” that is fugitivity, blurring societally-imposed binaries, in order to better understand the human territory and to make more-than-human sanctuary through post activism. If justice is an action and not a static state, how can we embody it?

Twisting and turning through the contours of human consciousness and understanding, Bayo and Ayana dive into meaningful and existential questions. How do we cope with the complexity of being “imbricated with the things we are trying to escape from?” What is the shape and form of accountability? How do we commune with the unknowable? Rooted in trickster philosophy and abundant spirituality, Bayo encourages mindful and playful questions. These are times in which we must reframe our understanding of justice, of history, and of humanity. At the heart of the complex questioning in the episode, lies the vital question of our time – what does it mean to be a human in times such as this?

Bayo Akomolafe (Ph.D.), rooted with the Yoruba people in a more-than-human world, is the father to Alethea and Kyah, the grateful life partner to Ije, son and brother. A widely celebrated international speaker, posthumanist thinker, poet, teacher, public intellectual, essayist, and author of two books, These Wilds Beyond our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity’s Search for Home (North Atlantic Books) and We Will Tell Our Own Story: The Lions of Africa Speak, Bayo Akomolafe is the Visionary Founder of The Emergence Network and host of the online postactivist course, ‘We Will Dance with Mountains’.

The music featured in this episode is “Humm” and “Wild Seed” by Dzidzor and “Spiritual” by Lady Moon and the Eclipse.

To learn more about For The Wild’s Slow Study course with Bayo, We Will Dance With Mountains: Into the Cracks!, visit here.

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