TYSON YUNKAPORTA on Inviolable Lore /362

Landcape photo of a wily wily turning up red earth; Australia; (Credit: Totajla)

What beckons us, calls to us from beyond? Tuning into a magic that flows from the universe, not from an individualized self, Tyson Yunkaporta offers lucid insight into the current state of the world in this week’s episode. In maddening times of dissonance and disconnection, Tyson speaks to the need for the Right Story, for LORE. As he dives into his new book Right Story, Wrong Story, Tyson discusses rampant disinformation, the stories that prop up empire, and the need for lore that cuts through such propagandistic drivel. 

This convivial and expansive conversation is a brilliant exploration and critique of the  current cultural fabric, and it invites crucial questions of how we can disrupt cycles of violence, power, and greed. 

Throughout the conversation, Tyson contemplates how we may open ourselves up to being beckoned outside of the ego, and how we may resist the individualizing neoliberal urge. Decolonization is not just about poetry, or word, or aesthetics, and Tyson strikes at the heart of how we (the collective we) must be materially and fiscally decolonial for the real work to be done.

It’s a tricky old storyscape that we’re living in. We need these good yarns. We need good cautionary tales emerging, good story that grounds us in just some basic care for each other and care for our place.
— Tyson Yunkaporta / Episode 362

Photo of Tyson Yunkaporta by James Henry

Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk and Right Story, Wrong Story. His work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises.

♫ The music you heard today is “Desert Nightflower” by Leo James, generously provided by Patience Records.


Episode References

Michel Foucault

Edward W. Said

The Sentinel Islands

Right Story, Wrong Story by Tyson Yunkaporta | Goodreads

Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner, and the Perennial Tradition | Embodied Philosophy

Tyson Yunkaporta is reimagining Beethoven” | The Guardian


Reading Recommendations

Special Report: Stealing Indigenous Voices in Australia (w/ Tyson Yunkaporta) | Conspirituality

From the Heart: The Voice, the Arts and Australian Identity (op-ed) | Limelight

How a ‘ridiculous idea’ has become the best thing for Tyson Yunkaporta | Sydney Morning Herald

Wild with Sarah Wilson podcast


SUBSCRIBE & Listen

Subscribe to For The Wild RSS →
Listen on Apple, Spotify, or another platform →

For The Wild is a gathering place for ideas and solutions ensuring that the growing body of work that we steward remains accessible to the public. If you want to see us continue, or perhaps are especially moved by the episode you are listening to today, please become a monthly sustaining member through our Patreon or consider making a one-time donation directly to us through our website. To stay up-to-date on our work, sign up for our newsletter.