Dougald Hine is author and co-founder of Dark Mountain, a cultural movement of people who have "stopped believing the stories our civilisation tells itself" and a School Called HOME, a "a gathering place and a learning community for those who are drawn to the work of regrowing a living culture" (personal website, Substack, wikipedia).
His latest book is "At Work in the Ruins", which we discuss at length in the conversation. At the beginning Dougald describes himself as "using words, and sometimes silences, to shift the space of possibility", which I think underplays his role as curator and community builder.
One way of understanding Dougald's response to these powerful times is that he sees them as showing that our world, the world of modernity, is ending.
Rather than moving into denial or a desperate fixing, Dougald is making 'good ruins' for whatever might be next, through creating pockets of living culture. He is trying to contribute to the possibility of presently-unimaginable futures, which starts with clearing away the stuff that has colonised the currently-imagined future.
I have read the book and heartily recommend it. To buy the book, and find the latest on Dougald's tour in Feb 2023, follow this link.
Links
'Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity's Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism' by Vanessa Machado de Oliveira (aka Vanessa Andreotti).
More on Dougald's partner, Anna Björkman, here.
A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity, and a Shared Earth by Chris Smaje
Timings
0:50 - Q1. What are you doing now? And how did you get there?
7:53 - BONUS QUESTION: Tell us something of the genesis of Dark Mountain?
12:00 - BONUS QUESTION: Tell us something about the start of a School Called Home?
18:11 - BONUS QUESTION: Give us a pen portrait of the book, At Work in the Ruins.
32: 54 - BONUS QUESTION: What are the strongest good faith arguments against what you are saying?
37:00 - Q2. What is the future you are trying to create, and why?
42:20 - Q3. What are your priorities for the next few years, and why?
46:42 - Q4. If someone was inspired to follow those priorities, what should they do next?
49:55 - Q5. If your younger self was starting their career now, what advice would you give them?
52:30 - Q6. Who would you nominate to answer these questions, because you admire their approach?
52:46 - Q7. Is there anything else important you feel you have to say?
More here
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Thank you for listening! -- David
