This project –should you find your way to it– is your permission to fail.

 

Inspired by Bayo Akomolafe’s construction of ‘blackness’ as a magical counterhegemonic quest for cracks in the Anthropos, instigated by the African Anthropocene, situated at Afro-diasporic sites of loss and queer power, and conceived as a deepening commitment to a politics beyond state recognition, this course-festival is an effort to spark an end-of-time emancipatory, decolonial, trans-local vocation of making sanctuary that is heavily indebted to the story and emergence of Candomblé spiritualities in Bahia, Brazil.   

As before, the longing of the course is to construct an approach/aesthetic that might help us move beyond the stuckness of our justice paradigms, move beyond critique, the exhaustion of leftist politics and electoral dynamics, the self-referentiality of cancel culture, the limitations of intersectional theory and representationalism, the failure of catch-up imperatives that the so-called Global South depends on, our unyielding dependence on nation-states, and our imaginations coterminous with the status quo. Additionally, the course weaves into the fabric of this iteration a post-nationalist ethos – a studied look at the failure of nation-states and the need for new political units that do not depend on the violence of statehood.

The course will include lectures/talks by Bayo Akomolafe, teachings by revered guest teachers, live music from the original sessions, and embodied practices at the end of each episode to give texture to the text.


We Will Dance With Mountains:
Into the Cracks!

A slow study course with Bayo Akomolafe, Ph.D

 
 

For The Wild first spoke with Bayo in January of 2020, just before the world as we knew it would begin to fervently wind and unwind. We’ve cherished Bayo’s challenging thought process ever since, and know For The Wild listeners feel the same. If you’d like to delve deeper into Bayo’s work, we invite you to join Bayo Akomolafe and guests as they play with postactivism, bewilderment, making sanctuary, prayer, weird politics, desire, and the injustice of justice. We are honored to be able to house this synthesized course for our listeners and invite you to learn more about the course, cost, and accessibility below. – For The Wild Team


A Note from Bayo …

 

It seems to me that in this time of catastrophes followed by catastrophes, as novel viruses prowl the streets, as heat domes and heat waves short circuit air conditioning units, as nation-states struggle to remain relevant political units in the face of geological and technological shifts, and as old rituals no longer ignite the warming fires by which our modern experiments have kept the cold at bay, an unearthly tune might be heard – wafting through the ruins of proud but anxious civilization, unsettling the browning leaves of disillusionment, whispering through traumascapes of exhausted activisms, braiding itself with the sinews of the migrant winds that once powered the sails of humanist progress and confidence.

Photo of Bayo Akomolafe

This arhythmic howl is by turns soft and bodacious, barely perceptible at times and then impossible to ignore. This ‘tune’ is not music, and yet it is the irresistible stuff music is made of. If we listened, we might hear no discernible lyrics, no convenient message – and yet that is the point: this tune is our permission to fail, an invitation to new reformulations of citizenry. The undoing of an acoustic order. A call to delirious depths. What might failure look like? Where might this generative incapacitation lead us? Who are we and who is here with us? I do not know yet. But I suspect that as I try my feet and hips to these seditious sounds and throw my limbs in trust of the abundance of this place, I will be caught by the surprise of the many already dancing with me – for failure is rich, and where there is ‘nothing’ there is much to go around.

In the time since the first coronavirus vaccines were announced to an exhausted global order, a slightly inflected normal has returned against the soundtrack of a persistent viral irruption. The engines are humming; the administrators have rushed to unbox the old tools, to polish the flagpoles, to tighten the old bolts, and reassure every citizen of the viability of the previous. But there’s something different: something molecularly off-track. Not everything has returned the way we once recognized them – not even ourselves. There is a jarring chord of failure – perhaps now amplified – that innervates our once cheery song of things. Perhaps now more than before, our optimisms seem cruel, our postcolonial hopes dashed, our efforts for justice tinged with cynicism. It seems like things want to fall apart. It seems like we’ve been stolen from home. Where do you go when things fall apart, when home has been taken away from you, when the cracks appear?

There are rumours that the cracks are not so foreboding. And that there might yet be a strange abundance in those ruptured places. Legend has it that a stolen people arriving on Brazilian shores centuries ago found a way to weave a posthumanist politics of care, a new theology of smelling and eating and tasting and sensing, a treasonable altar of gods and goddesses in their fugitive terreiros. They shut their eyes and danced with hyphenated deities; they choreographed strange sanctuaries. They stayed with new sites of power.

Perhaps that unsettling counter-imperial strain of failure that reframes the normal, calling for new response-abilities, new dis-abilities, and the making of sanctuaries, stirs in our epidemiologically inflected landscapes, in this age of the “hyposubject”* and the fugitive. Perhaps there is nowhere else to go but into the cracks. Perhaps our deepest activism is this dancing that might yet be.

– Bayo Akomolafe, Ph.D


*hyposubject: A term by Timothy Morton. “Hyposubjects are squatters and bricoleuses. They inhabit the cracks and hollows. They turn things inside out and work miracles with scraps and remains.”

 

The pedagogical goal of this animist course is to serve those disarticulated by, distressed with, and disenchanted from, dominant politics and its counteroffensive activisms – those tired of usual ways of speaking, exhausted with forced compliance, and longing for other ways of becoming response-able to these interesting times. The course offers reframes inspired by traditions and insights and readings that present a fugitive break from the usual. In other words, the curricular focus of this course is to put wounds to work, to treat them as portals and cracks connected with larger territorial shifts instead of matters to be eradicated by a dominant mode of being.  

But the aim of the course is not helping people “get it” or arrive at a fixed consensus – the aim is not even to find solutions to our problems; the unique invitation of this festival is to compose a celebratory trans-local politics of going invisible, a postnationalist/posthuman aesthetic of meeting the world differently, a falling-apart-together, a coming alive in another way. We want to track new senses, share recipes of eating and being eaten, invite new smells and sights.

Blackness is the leitmotif of this course. This Blackness is neither a pan-Africanist dream associated with visions of eventual supremacy, repatriation and nationalist coherence nor an Afrocentric blackness, static and essential. It is not exclusively the identitarian adversarial concept associated with the identity dynamics in Afro-diasporic communities, and it is not a universal, disembodied promise of emancipation. In short, this Blackness is not a creature of the state or of justice. This Blackness, while secreted from the histories and stories and losses of black bodies, is the votive oil that marks the end of the “world”, seeks out cracks in the vast terrain of the Human (the Anthropos), and invites decolonial practices of fugitivity. This Blackness is discomfiting: an invitation to touch the threads of complicity without falling into the convenient traps of guilt; an invitation to map desire and struggle with failure. An invitation to struggle – not with the established powers we despise, but with our ironic entanglements with the sustenance of those very powers. An invitation to think. 

Dr. Bayo Akomolafe (again surrounded and often prompted by the silent genius of his children’s noisemaking!) will be the chief instigator curating themes and teachings.

Here are some of the themes and questions we are likely to explore:

  • Blackness: Becoming-black is not taking on black skin; it is the often pre-intentional/local flow of processes that enlists bodies of all kinds into the undoing of hegemonic stability. It is the choreography of matter in the unfurling of colonial coherence. Is there a different politics here – something to consider, to contest, to practice, to sit with? 

  • Science as colonial force: As “heat domes” and heat waves become urgent climate events, short-circuiting air conditioners, reminding us of larger forces at work, global warming reasserts itself as a topic of concern during a time when our collective attention has been captured by a raging pandemic and the prospects of going outside, we revisit the epistemological strategy (scientific method) as the co-producer of contemporary anxieties and realities. While being careful about reductionisms such as an anti-science stance, in what ways do our modern forms of knowing – including the scientific method – determine and preserve how crises are made real to ‘us’? Why is it compelling to note that the ways we set about trying to understand and resolve our converging crises are also part of those crises? 

  • Ecologies of trust: In a time of weaponized divisions and deep uncertainties, who do we trust? What do we consider trustworthy? How is trust stranger than we think? 

  • Making sanctuary: How are we being invited into the work of making sanctuary? Who/what is called here? Who are the actors? And what are the promises of these seditious engagements? 

  • The injustice of justice: Is justice enough? What if injustice in order to be itself requires justice to function well? 

  • The shadows of recognition: In what ways do our strivings for recognition reinscribe the legitimacy of statehood and its undercurrents of violence? 

  • Weird politics: In this age of the hyposubject – how might we conceive of, and practice, a ‘weird politics’? 

  • Postactivism: Instead of asking “what do we do about the crisis?”, what does asking “what doings are we already imbricated with?” allow us to do, to notice, to try? How are the cosmovisions of modernity and liberal humanism ‘inadequate’ to the task of responding generously to the tragedies of contemporary politics and the crises facing the city? What do the concepts of postactivism, transraciality, becoming-black, and making sanctuary offer to our movements for a ‘better’ world? What new problems and shadows do they create? 

  • Recovering from goodness: What if we are all embroiled in energetic currents of complicity with the matters we are most vehemently opposed to? What kinds of ethical formulations spring from a rejection of rectitude and a consideration of ‘inclinations’ as fugitive postures for end-times?

  • Braiding whiteness into chromatic strands of surprise: In what ways do our attempts to dismantle whiteness constitute a reinscription of whiteness, and how might a queering of power and identity disrupt the ways we fall into carceral dynamics with dominant and hegemonic bodies?  

  • Candomblé: This Afro-diasporic religion assembles queer figures to mark/make home while its adherents gestate in a foreign place. In these times when home no longer feels welcoming, could the practices of Candomblistas inspire a politics of inquiry at sites of rupture? 

  • An ecopsychology of trauma: If the ‘human’ is dislocated, broken open, can we still conveniently tether trauma to human experiences or reduce it to anthropocentric events? In what sense is a new ‘psychology’ – inescapably political – desired today? 

  • Queer power and speculative strategies for the hyposubject: From acephalous protists making intellectual moves, to telepathic slaves conducting marronage and archetypal gods hiding in the ordinary, is power as controlled and as scarce as our knowledge-making practices tell us, or is realism limited? How is magic a matter of decoloniality? How is fiction a strategy of the fugitive and the hyposubject? How do we move towards totally new im/possibilities given the ways our justice-seeking performances fall into the traps of the impoverished familiar? 

  • How do we collectively weave new temporalities of decolonial practice? What would it take to create a modest local fugitive practice and network of sharing during these strange times? A postnationalist ecstasy? What would it take to move ‘beyond’ critique and cancellations (without dismissing these as ‘evil’ or ‘wrong’) towards creation and conjuration (without constituting these as arrivals or final resolutions)? 

  • Peace: At a time when conflicts and wars trouble international commitments to peace and stability, we want to examine the nature of these commitments, and if we can continue to think about peace in the same ways during a pandemic-distressed Anthropocene. For instance, is there hope for peace in the Middle East? In Africa? What does that look like, and what particular constraints work to reinforce violence? What does it mean for us to desire to “get back to normal” when the normal harbors violent secrets of its own? 

  • Dance! (nothing to add here that has anything to do with words!

 
 
 

Course Syllabus


I
Samba!

Joanna blesses the course, meditating on the idea that “death is safe.” Thinking in terms of patterns, flows, fields, intensities, and carnivals, Bayo teaches that it is often the case that our social analyses postpone the new.

Introduction
Blessing by Joanna Macy
Intro to Foot Washing by Jiordi Rosales
Procession into the Cracks by Ilu Oba
Main Lecture by Bayo Akomolafe

 

II
Failure as Flow, Pt 1

Bayo elevates failure to impersonal, more- than-human status, and imagines failure as a flowing stream seeking outlets, seeking new expressions.

Libation & Main Lecture by Bayo Akomolafe
Journaling by Geci Karuri-Sebina

 

III
Failure as Flow, Pt 2

Continuing the idea of failure as desirous of new expressions, Bayo teaches about making sanctuary as a politics of holding.

Fugitive Foodways with Makshya Tolbert
Main Lecture with Bayo Akomolafe

 

IV
Descent

Bayo and adrienne converse about race, identity, blackness, and more.

Bayo Akomolafe in conversation with adrienne maree brown
Music offering by Ganavya
Yellow H with Bayo Akomolafe & Jiordi Rosales

 

V
The Middle

Using cracks as a central concept, Bayo paints a cosmology that has no beginnings or convenient endings – and situates a “weird politics” in this vision of change.

Lecture with Bayo Akomolafe

 

VI
Sacred Toilets

What do we have to meet, to face, to sacrifice, to encounter, to glimpse different differences? Vanessa and Bayo enact architectural metaphors to suggest modernity needs to move from the hall to the toilet.

Bayo Akomolafe in conversation with Vanessa Andreotti

 

VII
Leavetakings

A collection of offerings, singing, testimonials, poetry and theatre that mark the carnivalesque conclusion to the course.

Ganavya
Penelope Baquero

Gratitude by Bayo Akomolafe
Vunja by Geci Karuri-Sebina

 



What We Will Explore

Do not pray exclusively to the ancestors of the land; make room also for the spirits of the fault line, the new gods that scream through cracks with the first musical notes of worlds to come.

DancingSun.jpg
  • This course is a series of lectures and practice prompts from our 2021 global course– We Will Dance With Mountains: Into the Cracks!– edited into a learning journey for you to explore from your home at your own pace.

    We Will Dance With Mountains is a carnivalesque course in postactivism (a formulation of Bayo), a matter of fissures, fault lines, cracks, openings, seismic shifts, endings, and fugitive marronage. The course (often described as an expedition or a wild adventure by previous participants) is about recuperating our connections with a ‘world’ that can no longer be seen as dormant, mute and passive. It is about coming to new senses, and co-generating new practices of place-making in partnership with the more-than-human world. In short, the course is about becoming with-nesses. About what we do when hope gets in the way, when forward movement no longer leads to interesting places, when justice obstructs transformation, and when victory keeps us tethered in carceral dynamics.

    Through curated sessions, shared explorations, emergent rituals, lectures, and side events, Into the Cracks! longs to push toward the unthought, the yet-to-be-tried, and the surprising, by exploring new nuances and complexities in the postactivism field summoned by Bayo Akomolafe.

    The longing of the course is to construct an approach/aesthetic that might help us move beyond the stuckness of our justice paradigms, move beyond critique, the exhaustion of leftist politics and electoral dynamics, the self-referentiality of cancel culture, the limitations of intersectional theory and representationalism, the failure of catch-up imperatives that the so-called Global South depends on, our unyielding dependence on nation-states, and our imaginations coterminous with the status quo.

    Additionally, the course weaves into the fabric of this iteration a post-nationalist ethos – a studied look at the failure of nation-states and the need for new political units that do not depend on the violence of statehood.

    This iteration is about practice and cultivation, about not just talking about making sanctuary, but ‘doing’ it – about materializing a practical and modest politics of mutation, of responding differently, and of new cosmoperceptions.

  • GUEST TEACHERS
    adrienne maree brown
    Geci Karuri-Sebina
    Joanna Macy
    Makshya Tolbert
    Vanessa Andreotti

    ARTISTS
    Ganavya
    Ilu Oba
    Penelope Baquero

    MUSIC
    Rajna Swaminathan

    CURATOR / PRODUCER
    Jiordi Rosales

    EDITOR
    Evan Tenenbaum

    DESIGN / PUBLISHING
    Ayana Young
    Erica Ekrem
    Francesca Glaspell
    Julia Jackson

    ILLUSTRATION
    Jon Marro
    Jia Sung

  • Dr. Bayo Akomolafe – a philosopher, psychologist, professor, and poet. He is a teacher and public intellectual renowned for his unconventional views on global crises, activism, and social change.

    Bayo dreams of composing a “weird politics”, a postnationalist emancipatory network of making sanctuary as inquiry, a village of technologies for fugitives.

    In 2014, Dr. Akomolafe was invited to be the Special Envoy of the International Alliance for Localization, a project of Ancient Futures (USA). He left his lecturing position in Covenant University, Nigeria to help build this Alliance. Bayo has been Visiting Professor at Middlebury College, where he taught on his own formulated concepts of ‘transraciality’ and postactivism. He has also taught at Sonoma State University (CA, USA), Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, Canada), and Schumacher College (Totnes, England) – among other universities around the world. He currently lectures at Pacifica Graduate Institute, California and the University of Vermont, as an adjunct and associate professor, respectively. He sits on the Board of many organizations including Science and Non-Duality (SAND).

    Now living between India and the United States, Bayo is a father of Alethea Aanya and Kyah Jayden Abayomi. He is married to EJ, his dear life-partner of Indian descent.

    The convener of the concepts of ‘postactivism’, ‘transraciality’ and ‘ontofugitivity’, Bayo is a widely celebrated international speaker an award-winning 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. He is also the Executive Director and Chief Curator for The Emergence Network. He is writing his third book about the spirituality and emancipatory lessons of the transatlantic slave journeys, called “The Times are Urgent, Let us Slow Down”.

  • Upon purchase you will receive a download link in your email inbox with the full coursework compressed in a zip folder. The links expires after 24 hours from purchase, so be sure to download within this timeframe. Once downloaded, you will have unlimited access to the curriculum which includes:
    • One (1) 80-page We Will Dance With Mountains Digital Course Book with emergent curriculum, articles and artwork in PDF format
    • Seven (7) Audio files in MP3 format with over five hours of explorative and provocative listening content
    • Seven (7) Transcripts of the audio files in PDF format

    Accessing Your Files

    • Due to lengthy articles, it may be best to engage with this course on a large screen device such as a laptop or desktop computer.
    • Your computer or device must be able to download, store, and open PDF and MP3 file types.
    • The download is 186.1MB in file size

  • This course-festival, a celebration of openings, a conjuring of descent, a sharing of fugitive strategies, is not about telling the truth or channeling pre-formed universal ideas, and it does not try to wield answers for all; instead, our pedagogical-spiritual undertaking is a rejection of such suspiciously cohesive and totalitarian notions like “Truth” or “World”.

    This is inquiry at the edges of the recognizable, practice at the speed of child-like play – not a gathering to confirm what we already know, but a quest to sit with the shocking unthought. Even more critically, making sanctuary (the core concept that continues to be central to the imagination of the course) is for those on the run, those who need to move, those who must leave the familiar behind, and whose bodies have been rendered incapable of proceeding with the current state of affairs. This course is for fugitives – black identified bodies, brown identified bodies, white identified bodies and people all over the world who identify in other ways.

  • We offer two sliding scales ranging from $50-$350 based on your relative financial standing from. The range between the two scales is meant to reflect not only the incredible disparity in economic conditions between different parts of the world but also the historical reality of stolen wealth in many different forms generally from the so-called Global South to the North. Ultimately, the payment system is designed for those with more access to wealth to cover the costs of those with less access to wealth; we trust your discernment of how you personally fit into this global economic context.

    Profits from this course are shared between contributors and help us to continue to create meaningful content into the future.

  • The pedagogical goal of this animist course is to serve those disarticulated by, distressed with, and disenchanted from, dominant politics and its counteroffensive activisms – those tired of usual ways of speaking, exhausted with forced compliance, and longing for other ways of becoming response-able to these interesting times. The course offers reframes inspired by traditions and insights and readings that present a fugitive break from the usual. In other words, the curricular focus of this course is to put wounds to work, to treat them as portals and cracks connected with larger territorial shifts instead of matters to be eradicated by a dominant mode of being.

    But the aim of the course is not helping people “get it” or arrive at a fixed consensus – the aim is not even to find solutions to our problems; the unique invitation of this festival is to compose a celebratory trans-local politics of going invisible, a postnationalist/posthuman aesthetic of meeting the world differently, a falling-apart-together, a coming alive in another way. We want to track new senses, share recipes of eating and being eaten, invite new smells and sights.

    Blackness is the leitmotif of this course. This Blackness is neither a pan-Africanist dream associated with visions of eventual supremacy, repatriation and nationalist coherence nor an Afrocentric blackness, static and essential. It is not exclusively the identitarian adversarial concept associated with the identity dynamics in Afro-diasporic communities, and it is not a universal, disembodied promise of emancipation. In short, this Blackness is not a creature of the state or of justice. This Blackness, while secreted from the histories and stories and losses of black bodies, is the votive oil that marks the end of the “world”, seeks out cracks in the vast terrain of the Human (the Anthropos), and invites decolonial practices of fugitivity. This Blackness is discomfiting: an invitation to touch the threads of complicity without falling into the convenient traps of guilt; an invitation to map desire and struggle with failure. An invitation to struggle – not with the established powers we despise, but with our ironic entanglements with the sustenance of those very powers. An invitation to think.
    Dr. Bayo Akomolafe (again surrounded and often prompted by the silent genius of his children’s noisemaking!) will be the chief instigator curating themes and teachings.

    Here are some of the themes and questions we are likely to explore:

    Blackness: Becoming-black is not taking on black skin; it is the often pre-intentional/local flow of processes that enlists bodies of all kinds into the undoing of hegemonic stability. It is the choreography of matter in the unfurling of colonial coherence. Is there a different politics here – something to consider, to contest, to practice, to sit with?

    Science as colonial force: As “heat domes” and heat waves become urgent climate events, short-circuiting air conditioners, reminding us of larger forces at work, global warming reasserts itself as a topic of concern during a time when our collective attention has been captured by a raging pandemic and the prospects of going outside, we revisit the epistemological strategy (scientific method) as the co-producer of contemporary anxieties and realities. While being careful about reductionisms such as an anti-science stance, in what ways do our modern forms of knowing – including the scientific method – determine and preserve how crises are made real to ‘us’? Why is it compelling to note that the ways we set about trying to understand and resolve our converging crises are also part of those crises?

    Ecologies of trust: In a time of weaponized divisions and deep uncertainties, who do we trust? What do we consider trustworthy? How is trust stranger than we think?

    Making sanctuary: How are we being invited into the work of making sanctuary? Who/what is called here? Who are the actors? And what are the promises of these seditious engagements?

    The injustice of justice: Is justice enough? What if injustice in order to be itself requires justice to function well?

    The shadows of recognition: In what ways do our strivings for recognition reinscribe the legitimacy of statehood and its undercurrents of violence?

    Weird politics: In this age of the hyposubject – how might we conceive of, and practice, a ‘weird politics’?

    Postactivism: Instead of asking “what do we do about the crisis?”, what does asking “what doings are we already imbricated with?” allow us to do, to notice, to try? How are the cosmovisions of modernity and liberal humanism ‘inadequate’ to the task of responding generously to the tragedies of contemporary politics and the crises facing the city? What do the concepts of postactivism, transraciality, becoming-black, and making sanctuary offer to our movements for a ‘better’ world? What new problems and shadows do they create?

    Recovering from goodness: What if we are all embroiled in energetic currents of complicity with the matters we are most vehemently opposed to? What kinds of ethical formulations spring from a rejection of rectitude and a consideration of ‘inclinations’ as fugitive postures for end-times?

    Braiding whiteness into chromatic strands of surprise: In what ways do our attempts to dismantle whiteness constitute a reinscription of whiteness, and how might a queering of power and identity disrupt the ways we fall into carceral dynamics with dominant and hegemonic bodies?

    Candomblé: This Afro-diasporic religion assembles queer figures to mark/make home while its adherents gestate in a foreign place. In these times when home no longer feels welcoming, could the practices of Candomblistas inspire a politics of inquiry at sites of rupture?

    An ecopsychology of trauma: If the ‘human’ is dislocated, broken open, can we still conveniently tether trauma to human experiences or reduce it to anthropocentric events? In what sense is a new ‘psychology’ – inescapably political – desired today?

    Queer power and speculative strategies for the hyposubject: From acephalous protists making intellectual moves, to telepathic slaves conducting marronage and archetypal gods hiding in the ordinary, is power as controlled and as scarce as our knowledge-making practices tell us, or is realism limited? How is magic a matter of decoloniality? How is fiction a strategy of the fugitive and the hyposubject? How do we move towards totally new im/possibilities given the ways our justice-seeking performances fall into the traps of the impoverished familiar?

    How do we collectively weave new temporalities of decolonial practice? What would it take to create a modest local fugitive practice and network of sharing during these strange times? A postnationalist ecstasy? What would it take to move ‘beyond’ critique and cancellations (without dismissing these as ‘evil’ or ‘wrong’) towards creation and conjuration (without constituting these as arrivals or final resolutions)?

    Peace: At a time when conflicts and wars trouble international commitments to peace and stability, we want to examine the nature of these commitments, and if we can continue to think about peace in the same ways during a pandemic-distressed Anthropocene. For instance, is there hope for peace in the Middle East? In Africa? What does that look like, and what particular constraints work to reinforce violence? What does it mean for us to desire to “get back to normal” when the normal harbors violent secrets of its own?

    Dance! (nothing to add here that has anything to do with words!)

  • Short of your personal displeasure with the content of the course and other unique cases (which we will consider deliberately if they arise) there are very few situations in which we might provide refunds. Please contact us connect@forthewild.world with any inquiries.

GoldFlood.jpg

BEYOND BUSINESS:
Ethical Maker Guide

We believe in supporting ethical makers and small businesses who go beyond business as usual. We’ve partnered with the following to connect you with earthcentric makers and support For The Wild programming at the same time.

 

CATORI LIFE

Made in the USA using ethically sourced and reclaimed materials. Every purchase gives back.

CATORI LIFE is a small, independent, woman owned philanthropic jewelry creator. Their pieces are made to inspire you to move through the world from an empowered place of your own personal authenticity and truth. They believe in living a harmonious, intuitive, inspired & passionate lifestyle... in doing everything possible to work toward global healing & restoration and in the strengthening and remembering of our awareness of the beauty and wonder of life. Every piece of jewelry sold plants 20 trees & supports ocean conservation. Their jewelry is ethically made from recycled metals & ethically sourced stones by hand in small batches in the USA.


FAT AND THE MOON

Herbalist formulated, hand crafted, head-to-toe body care made with earthcentric values

FAT AND THE MOON, at its core, is about healing. Self-care is fundamental to showing up fully to care for others, and our world. Healing is reflected in the way they choose to do business, in intentional relationship with people and plants. They work with plants that are abundant, ethically harvested and organically cultivated and combine them in formulations that are non-toxic. Their commitment is to use reusable, recyclable containers, whenever possible and to minimize superfluous packaging. Healing is reflected in F&M’s wholehearted support of Self Care and Self Love which stands in opposition to the pervasive message that something is inherently wrong with us, and that we need a product to fix it. They see the beauty in all bodies, all backgrounds, all ethnicities, all races and all genders. Their potions are mediums of empowerment through self care.

A percentage of your purchase will go to For The Wild


LOOMBOUND

A place to weave your words – small batch handwoven journals made from ethically sourced materials

LOOMBOUND journals are hand-crafted with careful consideration using biodegradable materials including 100% tree-free paper, archival linen thread, and deadstock veg-tanned leather that might otherwise be landfilled due to imperfections. Each piece is designed and bound by a single artisan in the USA with folk tools and slow patience. LoomBound journals invoke a grounding, earthly element and may be used alongside a journaling practice as a potent tool for nurturing emotional regulation and creative, slow being.

Use FORTHEWILD15 for 15% off your order and 15% for For The Wild


MOON BATH

Combining ancient wisdom with modern intuitive alchemy, Moon Bath curates earth integrated botanical bath teas, salts, facial rituals and aromatherapy.

Simple and organic, MOON BATH products contain no synthetic chemicals or preservatives — because those don’t belong on our skin. The ethos of the modern bathing renaissance is to move beyond bathing as simply cleansing ourselves, and toward bathing as an opportunity to drink in through our skin the varied benefits of plant medicine.

They see the triple bottom line approach to business as an important way to create positive social and environmental change. Their initiatives include sustainable packaging, carbon neutrality, charitable partnerships, and working with mission driven vendors. Moon Bath is a proud member of 1% for the Planet, donating at least one percent of annual revenues to environmental nonprofits committed to creating a healthy planet.

Use FORTHEWILD for 10% off


KATYDID HILL

100% Pennsylvania grown herbal teas for rest, pleasure, and connection

For KATYDID HILL, regenerative farming is always about learning and trying to do their best. They are a women-owned farm and herbal tea apothecary committed to growing 100% of the herbs in their teas and elixirs on their hillside farm in central PA.

Use FORTHEWILD23 for 15% off


MYCOLOVE

A community of fungi-lovers on a mission to save the world with mushrooms

MYCOLOVE is a group of folks that really like mushrooms. They like them from every single angle but have decided to focus our energies towards creating an amazing product for our community. They want to build a lasting, trustworthy, dependable brand that offers the highest potency, organic, full-fruit body mushroom extracts for your mind body and soul. Their mushroom tinctures are US-grown and certified organic. By focusing on Turkey Tail, Reishi, Lion’s Mane, and Cordyceps, Mycolove Farm is hoping to fill the void in the current marketplace. Most medicinal mushrooms sold as supplements in the states are either powdered mycelium sans fruit or imported from other parts of the world where there is less regulation- which adds burden to the already worrisome climate situation.

Use FORTHEWILD for 15% off your order and 15% for For The Wild

 

The Present Underworld: Rooted Wayfinding in Fragmentary Times

PRINT & AUDIO SUBMISSIONS

 
 

This anthology, tentatively named The Present Underworld: Rooted Wayfinding in Fragmentary Times, will invoke a visual and narrative journey through an underworld inhabited by more-than-human beings, curious artifacts, textures, feelings, and fragments of wisdom that are slowly united to experience a semblance of connection, sense- and place-making. Formats include a printed book with an accompanying vinyl record that will also be available by digital download and offered at sliding-scale for community accessibility.

 
 
 
 

Themes include

  • Meaning making within an age of isolation, grief, and loneliness

  • Underworld mythology

  • Questions of “the monstrous”

  • Wayfinding in the shadow realm  

  • Practices of gratitude and community building

  • Emotional regulation in the face of an accelerating, fragmented world

  • Making sense of a world with no hero, no cure, no savior

  • Reunion with the world and connection to the more-than-human

  • The holobiont and decentering the human story

 

Submission Guidelines

  • Please submit as soon as available, no later than Jan 1, 2024.

  • If you have confirmed your participation but are not ready to submit files, share your bio and a note letting us know when to expect your material with Button No 1.

  • Writing submissions: Maximum of 3000 words or close (DOC or DOCX file type)

  • Artwork: Grayscale or Black/White, CMYK, 300 DPI (JPG, PNG, or TIFF)

  • If total files are over 500 MB, reach out to design@forthewild.world for further instruction

 
 
 

What happens next?

OUR PUBLICATION PROCESS

The publishing process will span out over the next year and you can expect us to reach out a number of times.
Your steps will include…

1
Contribution
Join us by submitting your work.


2

Relationship & Reciprocity
Review and sign your publishing contract.
Connect us with the preferred method to receive your contributor honorarium.


3

Editing
Review any suggestions or minor edits of your work using Google Docs.


4
Design

Review and accept final presentation of your work.

5

Community Outreach
Share about the pre-sale and book launch. Help us get the anthology into your community.
We’d like to share the anthology with institutions, shelters, prisons, libraries, community commons, and beyond.

6
Receive

Receive your copy by mail, explore it for yourself,
and continue to share!

7
Journey with Us
We’re planning on celebrating the launch through a series of on-location talks and other experiences.
If you’d like to join us along the way, let us know.




 

An Anthology of the Anthropocene.

 

Submit Your Writing

This is an ongoing callout for writers who would like their work featured in For The Wild’s monthly digital zines. We feature 1-2 pieces per monthly zine and highlight writers whose work is in alignment with our vision. If this is you, submit your info below. We look forward to featuring our community of creatives.

Contribute to this slow media project. These zines are an offering on For The Wild’s Patreon account and are available at Tiers $5 and above. They are also available individually for $15 on FTW’s website. Proceeds from the zines support production and programming costs for FTW’s podcast and slow media projects. Through the generous sharing of your work, you help us make our programming possible. Currently, the zines are available for digital download only. We look forward to bringing them to print in the future.

Themes We are looking to feature writing that encourages softness in the face of difficulty, rest and rootedness rather than urgency, and tenderness within community. Upcoming Zines will focus on themes of resistance, abundance, worship, embodiment, emergence, earthly pleasures, and beauty.

Format We welcome short and medium length poems,short essays and musings between 200–750 words long, and short-form guides for spells, practices, and recipes.

Reciprocity Featured artists will receive free download access to the 3 most recent digital zines.

Credits Artist name, bio, artist statement or story, and url will appear in the zine with a link to the website or social media profile. Authors will also be tagged on our Instagram.

Submission Deadline
This callout is ongoing. Submissions are accepted and reviewed as long as the form is open.

Review and Acceptance Process•
1. Submit your piece(s) using the form button below. It will ask you to log-in to a Google account to access.
2. Your submission will be reviewed by For The Wild team. If your work is featured in any of our upcoming zines, you will be notified by email.
3. You may receive a request for minor edits. If so, please respond promptly to help facilitate publishing timelines.
4. Upon publishing, you will receive a link to a selection of the digital zines to download in exchange for your contribution.
5. Please help us spread the word – share about your feature and the zine with your community of friends and family!

* Due to the large amount of submissions received, you will not be contacted unless your piece is selected for feature. Feel free to reach out to the below email with any questions.

Questions Contact writing@forthewild.world

 

Google sign-in is required for this form. If you do not have a Google email account please reach out to design@forthewild.world to request an alternative method.

 
 
 
 

An Anthology of the Anthropocene

 

Submit Your Artwork

This is a callout for artists who would like their work featured in For The Wild’s monthly digital zines. We feature 1-2 artists per monthly zine and highlight artists whose work is in alignment with our vision. If this is you, submit your info below. We look forward to featuring our community of artists.

Contribute to this slow media project. These zines are an offering on For The Wild’s Patreon account and are available at Tiers $5 and above. They are also available individually for $15 on FTW’s website. Proceeds from the zines support production and programming costs for FTW’s podcast and slow media projects. Through the generous sharing of your work, you help us make our programming possible. Currently, the zines are available for digital download only. We look forward to bringing them to print in the future.

Artistic Themes We welcome artwork that explores themes such as emergence, the holobiont, ecology, fungi and friends, rootedness, connection to the earth and more. We are looking for artwork that encourages softness in the face of difficulty, rest and rootedness rather than urgency, and tenderness within community.

Mediums We invite a variety of artistic mediums to apply – such as, but not limited to: illustration, photography, botanical and textile art, line drawing, sculpture, painting, printmaking, folk art, collage, land and installation art, mixed media. Note: We are not currently accepting AI generated imagery.

Format We accept high resolution (300 dpi minimum) files in PNG, JPG, or TIF formats.

Reciprocity Featured artists will receive free download access to the 3 most recent digital zines.

Credits Artist name, bio, artist statement or story, and url will appear in the zine with a link to the website or social media profile. Artists will also be tagged on our Instagram.

Submission Deadline
This callout is ongoing. Submissions are accepted and reviewed as long as the form is open.

Review and Acceptance Process
1. Submit your piece(s) using the form button below. It will ask you to log-in to a Google account to access.
2. Your submission will be reviewed. If your work is featured in any of our upcoming zines, you will be notified by email.
3. Upon publishing, you will receive a link to a selection of the digital zines to download in exchange for your contribution.
4. Please help us spread the word – share about your feature and the zine with your community of friends and family!

* Due to amount of submissions received, you will not be contacted unless your work is selected for a zine. Feel free to reach out to the below email with any questions.

Questions Contact design@forthewild.world

 

Google sign-in is required for this form. If you do not have a Google email account please reach out to design@forthewild.world to request an alternative method.

 
 
 

An Anthology of the Anthropocene.

 

For The Wild Classics

For Radio

Welcome to For The Wild’s podcast catalogue. Below you’ll find descriptions and download links for our episodes hosted by For The Wild founder, Ayana Young.

Two ways to download the files: From the list of audio players below or download from the DropBox button below.
Reach out to connect@forthewild.world with questions.

 
  • Alok shares the connections between a lack of spiritual practice and the conditions for violence, reclaiming artistry from industry, degendering fashion, the capacity of our emotional immune systems amidst transformation, and the life-sustaining work of discovering one’s ancestors, not biological - but emotional, as in those who have come before us and bore witness to the same aches our hearts know today. More info >

    ♫ Featured music: “An Sí Gaoithe” by Soda Lite, “Spirit’s Cradle” by Rising Appalachia, and “Grow” by Lady Moon & The Eclipse. Length– 56:03

  • Alynda Mariposa Segarra invites listeners to examine their relationship to place, comfort, and survival as they discuss their newest album Life On Earth. Through the art form of music, Alynda holds together the complexities that come with wanting and needing to run away from oppressive systems while simultaneously needing to confront what is happening right in front of us. More info >

    ♫ Featured music: “KiN,” “Life On Earth” and “Wolves” by Hurray for the Riff Raff with Nonesuch Records. Length– 56:42

  • Death itself is the seed that blooms a beautiful life. Andrea contemplates the ways we cope with loneliness and the deeply rooted societal fears of disconnection and of death. Facing fear, confusion, and loss head on, Andrea reminds us that healing is a return to the self, a return to community. More info >

    ♫ Featured music: “Cascata Di Malbacco” by John Carrol Kirby (Patience Records), “We’re All going To Die (In Paris)” by Kesia Negata, and “The World Survives” by Katie Gray. Length– 57:01

  • The natural world is not separated from any one of us, and in detailing her work with Herban Cura, Antonia brings her insight on connections to plants and land within urban settings expanding the horizons of intimacy between humans and plants across human-imposed boundaries. As Antonia shares more about her New York City and familial Chilean roots, she reminds us of the value of connection to places for spiritual, ancestral, and medicinal means.

    ♫ Featured music: “PUMA” and “Destellos” by Julio Kintu and “All My Relations” by The Ulali Project with Pura Fé. Length– 57:21

  • Bayo 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. Learn more >

    ♫ Featured music is “Humm” and “Wild Seed” by Dzidzor and “Spiritual” by Lady Moon and the Eclipse. Length–57:51

  • Bayo invites us to pause and abandon solutionism, step back from the project of progress, and dance into a different set of questions: What does the Anthropocene teach us as a destabilizing agent that resists our taming? How can we show up in our movements of justice if “the ways we respond to crisis is part of the crisis”? What happens when we unfurl into a space of slowness and relinquish human mastery to a wider cosmic net of relations? Learn more >

    ♫ Featured music from the album “Beyond and Between” by Daniel Higgs. Length–56:53

  • Betty Martin offers her vast knowledge of bodywork, somatics, and consent to give listeners insight into what she calls “The Wheel of Consent,” a quadrant that details a practice of giving and receiving. More info >

    ♫ Featured music: “J’ai Vu Le Loup” and “Tiocfaidh an Samhradh” by Roehind, and “Solomon’s Seal” by Vaughn Aed. Length– 57:46

  • brontë velez who poetically guides us through an expansive exploration of critical ecology, radical imagination and decomposition as rebellion. brontë graciously encourages us to examine our relationship to place and space, the decolonization of literacy, the decomposition of violence and the prioritization of Black wellness.

    ♫ Music featured in this episode by Majo and Reverend Pearly Brown. Length–60:00

  • In Part One of this expansive conversation, Ayana and brontë delve into topics surrounding authentic expression, the distortion of feminine and masculine powers, beauty and aesthetics, queerness, dominatrix energy, and power as agency.

    ♫ Featured music is "Touch in Mine" and "Dancing The Animal (mind)" by Esperanza Spalding. Length– 56:28

  • Part Two of brontë and Ayana’s ripe conversation explores topics including appropriating propaganda and memetics, reorienting ourselves away from the spectacle of terror, tending to erotic energy and sensual spaces, and the nuances around beauty and aesthetics in dominant culture.

    ♫ Music by The Growth Eternal (Leavings Records), Jennifer Johns and members of the Thrive Choir and Jiordi Rosales on cello, recorded at the 2019 Lead to Life Oakland ceremony. Length—56:51

  • Ayana and Claudia dig deep into food and the memories around it– from the sensuality of texture, taste, and love in the kitchen, to ancestral memory, to the way tastes for food are passed down through the womb. Claudia explains what it might mean to eat for the next seven generations, and how such future visions are tied to a greater decolonial project, as decolonizing the body and the landscape also means decolonizing the kitchen.

    ♫ Featured music is “Wood Drops” by Justin Crawmer, “El Lenguaje de las Plantas” by Julio Kintu (Chloe Utley), and “Mujer Torbellino” by PALO-MA (Paola De La Concha). Length–56:39

  • Corrina Gould reminds us that the land can sustain us in a way that would provide for our wellbeing should we choose to really re-examine what it is we need to survive. But more than a conversation on the wealth of the land, we explore responsibility and reciprocity on stolen homelands by asking what it means to be in right relationship?

    ♫ Featured music s "Warriors" by Shayna Gladstone and "Canta," "Rain Song," and "Meteor Martyr" by Amo Amo. Length–56:46

  • Dori discusses magical and liberatory practices, ancestral Jewish healing traditions, and the necessity of reclaiming Judaism from Zionism in the name of collective liberation. She shares sweet stories of garlic and cedar, the generosity of belonging, and the blessing of our collective and intricate work as we stretch toward liberation. Learn more >

    ♫ Featured music is “Let Fear Be Your Guide” by 40 Million Feet, “Set Free” by Katie Gray, and “Little Fire” by Aviva Le Fey. Length–55:00

  • Ella traces the powerful connection between our ability to go against mainstream capitalist ways of being and our capacity for deep connection with ourselves and each other. With intimacy as an entrance point, our conversation explores what happens when we derive our pleasure from extraction, the kind of deep embodiment and connectivity that threatens capitalistic and colonial structures, and how we can journey back into spaces of trust through practices that don’t have to cost us a thing. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Beam” by Harrison Foster, “Spiritual” and “Augmented” by Lady Moon & The Eclipse, and “La Montaña” by Sucúlima. Length—58:06

  • Fariha Róisín offers both timely and timeless wisdom on what it means to live in a body that has experienced trauma. This is a conversation that bears witness to the deep terror and distress of the world and still charges forward with undying compassion and care – the compassion and care of wild survival. Offering both deep personal reflection and spacious contemplation about the state of the world, Fariha reminds us that our bodies guide us to what we need. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Not Every Lake Dreams of Being a Magical Swamp” by Misha Sultan with Patience Records, “Canta” by Amo Amo, “Arabesque No. 1” by Colloboh with Leaving Records, and “As We Walk into the Night” by Amber Rubarth. Length–57:20

  • We slow down to acknowledge the beauty and power of fungal decomposition with guest Giuliana Furci who shares a lesson in divine time, the transformation of energy, and the necessity of decomposition. We begin our conversation by discussing the importance of grounding ourselves in the ancestral history of fungi amidst the current period of intense commodification. We explore the loss of fungal diversity amidst habitat loss, the use of invasive and native fungi in restoration projects, and the significance of Chile becoming the first country in the world to include fungi in environmental legislation and what that means for conservation efforts. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Electric Steps” by Roma Ransom, “Vagabonds”by Rajna Swaminathan, and “Puma” by Julio Kintu. Length–57:19

  • We learn about what continues to strengthen and uphold the wastefulness of our global trade system and how global corporations decimate diversity in terms of species, livelihoods, and identities with guest Helena Norberg-Hodge. In lieu of globalization, we are offered localization, which Helena points out is about bringing the economy back to us; no longer does it have to revolve around the whims of transnational corporations, instead it can nourish human health and wellbeing at the community level. More Info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Time to Think” and “Ocean Moon” by Dana Anastasia and “Where the Wild People Go” by Chloe Levaillant. Length–56:50

  • Ismail guides listeners through an overview of where we are in our relationship with drugs in the American context, and how this relationship is indicative of our relationship with the Earth and with humanity broadly. Ismail and Ayana hone in on the consumption-driven mindsets that frame drug use within a capitalist context from so-called “party drugs,” to legalized cannabis use, and to the pharmaceutical industry.

    ♫ Featured music is "Beam" by Harrison Foster, "If The Day Comes' by Book of Colors, and "Don't Be Afraid" by Autumn Hawk Percival. Length–56:19

  • Bringing us into his world of nature, awe, and magical poetry, Anderson reminds us that our human journey is worthy of just as much love and affection as the natural world around us. When we come to nature with intention, how might it guide us towards love and inspiration? We are people of a place, Jarod reminds us, and the intimate, internal, and local work we do matters, just as our small bodies in this vast universe matter infinitely.

    ♫ Featured music is “Pine Chant” by Sara Fraker and Lachlan Skipworth. Length–58:01

  • Bringing us to the Wind River Reservation, Baldes shares his work to bring back wild Buffalo to Wind River and to rematriate land to the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes. Jason offers his deep wisdom about the ecological, spiritual, and cultural importance of buffalo, detailing the health benefits of eating buffalo, the ecological benefits of their migration and grazing, and the healing benefits of connection to these animals. More Info >

    ♫ Featured music is “There is More Love Somewhere” by Jayme Stone and “Cinnamon Nugget” and “Sly Grog” by A.R. Wilson. Length–56:50

  • Ayana speaks to eco-philosopher, author, teacher, and scholar, Joanna Macy. As we find ourselves alive in this time of great turning, where feelings of grief, despair, and gloom are omnipresent – we seek counsel from Joanna on finding emotional courage, building allyship, and practicing gratitude for all which moves us. More info >

    ♫ Music by Roberta Flack, Pharoah Sanders, and Roy Harper. Length-TBA

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  • Dr. John Francis stopped using motorized vehicles, a commitment that lasted 22 years. Soon after he made this promise, he found himself arguing amongst friends and family about whether or not this act was worthwhile, could one person really make a difference? More info >

    ♫ Music by Rajna Swaminathan, Cooper-Moore, and Carter Lou McElroy. Length–56:06

  • K’asheechtlaa shares the oral history of herring abundance in context to what a typical herring harvest looks like today, industry’s inability to act with reverence, and how Herring Protectors are working to protect the herring and the culture tied to them. As an alternative to thoughtless extractivism and incompatible institutions, K’asheechtlaa also shares what place-based joy feels like, grassroots efforts to restore the sacred, and the importance of building allyship outside of one’s own circle. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Wolf Creek” by Lake Mary, “Awake Before Dawn” by The Ascent of Everest, “Life Givers” by Alexandra Blakely, and “Old Pine Tree” by Fountainsun. Length–57:56

  • Johnson discuss the depths of pleasure and the dimensions of healing bringind eep knowledge regarding reproductive and sexual health, especially paying attention to the often untended somatic nature of sexual boundary repair and the complicated nature of what we bring into sexual relationships. How might we go beyond “default” modes of sex, conditionings around sex and power, and relationship dynamics that do not reflect the wholeness of our personhood? More info >

    ♫ Featured music is "Leaving Morning" by Lake Mary & Talk West, "Wash The Pain Away" and "Shelter" by Katie Gray. Length–57:58

  • This conversation explores the powerful memory held by Southern Resident orcas, the threats they face from vessel noise, chemical pollutants, and declining Chinook salmon population, the health of the Salish Sea, and the efforts of the Lummi Nation to return Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut (also known as Tokitae/Lolita), from where she was being held captive at Miami Seaquarium, to her natal waters in the Salish Sea. Tokitae’s life ended while in captivity, but we hope that her memory may serve to inspire the fight for right-relationship and reciprocity with our more-than-human-kin. More info >

    ♫ The music featured in this episode is "H-O" by Monplaisir and "Action" by Amoeba. Length: 49:05

  • Russo shares how he came to see the world through Tokitae, a Southern Resident Orca held captive in the Miami Seaquarium for decades. As he mourns Tokitae’s recent death, Kurt reflects on the ways nature gives us signs of the greater mysteries of life, and he considers how we may come together again through nature. Kurt encourages listeners to consider the ways we may “learn in the lap of Mother Earth.” More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Eurybia” by Francesca Heart and “Interlude” by Julius Smack. Length–57:50

  • Dr. Ward plumbs into racial karma and healing systemic trauma in the American context. Covering the neuroscience of trauma, the habit of racism, and various typologies of systemic trauma, Ward provides insight into how we might consciously choose to activate our neuroplasticity toward justice rather than collectively rewarding our neuroplasticity for violence and oppression. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Ocean of the Heart” by Daniela Lanaia, “I am Boundless Energy” by Curran Runz, “Vibration” by Lady Moon and the Eclipse, and “Blue Heron” by The New Runes. Length–57:24

  • As empire inevitably crumbles, those of us in the heart of it must actively work to dismantle capitalism and colonialism. Layla turns to her experience within the Lebanese diaspora to share the power of connecting back to homeland to the plants and landscapes that are intertwined with culture. Remembrance is a key part of liberation from the systems that tried to force disconnection from the land. Layla shares throughout the episode “the land is in our bones.” More info >

    ♫ The music in this episode is “Ocean in your Eyes” and “Comfort is Never Constant” by Lionmilk. Length–56:25

  • Khosla invites listeners into the forests of Northern California to find deep reverence for the power of biodiversity. Maya’s expertise on wildfires shines through this deep and well-informed conversation as she and Ayana share in a love for the forest and a deep-seated awe for the complexity of forest life. Maya introduces listeners to the science behind forest fires and urges us to see fire as not simply “destructive,” but rather as one of the many cycles of earth. More info >

    ♫ The music is "...So Long And To The Horizon" by Lake Mary "Moss Fire" by Forest Veil, and "as we are now" by Bird by Snow. Length: 57:20

  • Winding through questions of philosophy, science, and meaning making, this conversation brings together vital thoughts on what it means to live an embodied life in an entangled world. Guest Merlin Sheldrake shares the motivations that drew him to study fungi and the complex ways this study has shaped his life and thought. More info >

    ♫ Featured music: “under a tree” and “One4G” by Matthewdavid. Length– 56:01

  • Molly details the paths that created the Work That Reconnects, an inspiring, interactive group process for anyone who longs to serve the healing of our world in a more powerful and effective way. Molly encourages listeners to turn to deep time – our connection to our ancestors and to all who come in the future – and to root into a relationship with humanity and the earth that recognizes our interconnectedness. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “In Plain Sight” and “Clearance” by Celia Hollander with Leaving Records. Length–56:54

  • We take a moment for some deep heart salve with Niria Alicia who guides us to think about ancestral instruction, precious purpose, rituals for liberation, and what it means to be human in this time. This warm and rich conversation looks at spiritual crisis in tandem with climate crisis, the allure of self-sabotage, and the problem with the many “solutions” we are offered to the problems our world faces in this epoch. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is "Uno" by Santiago Cordoba, "Mujer Torbellino" by Palo-Mah, and “Jasmine Vines” by The Range of Light Wilderness. Length–57:29

  • Dr. Kaishian encourages us to think of mycology as a revolutionary and political practice. Diving into queer mycology, we see the ways that fungi challenge binaries of gender, family structure, and even traditional biological classification. Fungi do not make easy subjects of capitalism. In the tradition of queer theory, how might we learn from fungi rather than being threatened by their binary and definition-defying presence? More info >

    ♫ Featured music is "Intro" by The Musicteller, "Awake Dreaming" and "Perfection" by Madelyn Ilana, and "Heart Land" by Kendra Swanson. Length—55:48

  • Invoking ancestry, magic, and a deep relationship with the Dead, Finn invites listeners into a world of mystery. Following ecology, not theology, Perdita calls us to think about the ecological equation – the reality of bodies feeding other bodies, of death opening a portal to another life. This is a reality that animals, plants, and all our more-than-human kin know well. How can we tap into their earthly wisdom? More info >

    ♫ Feaiured music s “Blue Heron” by The New Runes, “Hold Your Laughter” by Left Vessel, “Time Away from Time” by Eliza Edens, and “Myelin” by Arthur Moon. Length–57:12

  • Prentis and Ayana also explore what it means to heal across time, the importance of boundaries, recovering our capacity within a system that violently seeks to concentrate trauma, and the detrimental impacts of our obsession with innocence. Recogizing the connections between these topics, Prentis reminds us of the importance of training ourselves to pay attention to the ecosystem we are a part of, while grounding in the tremendous potential that embodiment provides us when it comes to capacity, relationship, mending, and a deep desire for connection. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “New Dune” (Instrumental) by Tan Cologne, “Codetalker” by This Flame I Carry, and “Let The Cards Fall” by The Breath. Length–54:39

  • As Rachel points out that we are in need of a renaissance. Attuned to years of intense work around race and racial consciousness within the United States, Rachel uses the dreams and desires from this time as the raw materials for revolution. Rachel envisions a collective renaissance that centers on intergenerational conversation. Renaissance is not just for the future, it is for all of us together in this moment and beyond. Rooted in trust, how might we reimagine this world together? More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Ramble” (Instrumental) by Eliza Edens and “On Naming” and “Drunk House Guests” by Mikayla McVey with The Long Road Society Record Label. Length-55:01

  • Gladstar calls forth deep gratitude for and mindfulness of the plant world as she walks with us through the world of herbalism in this precious episode. Reminding listeners of the value of connecting to the wellspring of earth, Rosemary contemplates the ways plants shape us and make us into companions when we work with them. Alongside this, Rosemary considers the ways paying deep attention to the world invites us to a place of radical grief and love. How do we acknowledge change, and choose to love in spite of harsh circumstances? More info >

    ♫ Featured music is "Ramble" (instrumental) and “When Silence Turns to Sound” by Eliza Edens, "Medicine" by Rising Appalachia, and "Hummingbird" by Lea Thomas. Length-58:00

  • Ross shares the journey behind his work as “Nerdy About Nature,” and the passion for education, science, and the outdoors that drives the project. Breaking down what he wants people to get from his content, he considers how to get people to pay attention to the issues that matter without feeding into the seemingly endless loop of the attention economy. Ross and Ayana delve into critical questions about advocacy and activism in times of social media, and consider what it would truly mean to engage in action that connects and protects. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Everything is Okay,” “Lichen Maps,” and “Far More Other” by Green-House with Leaving Records. Length-57:51

  • Rowen’s words crack open worlds upon worlds — the magical, manifold creations that lay rest in the seeds that we tuck away in our closets, rattle in wild grasses, and ride the wind. An ode to this “talisman of adaptation and creativity,” our interview with Rowen circles Native seeds, the myth of individual self sufficiency, the cultural dimensions of biodiversity, biocolonialism and safeguarding agricultural heritage against patenting, seed work as slow work, and reweaving cultures of belonging. In talking about reclaiming our responsibility and relationship to seeds, Rowen reminds us that we are also naming our birthright to nourish and sustain ourselves. Great healing awaits in these fertile, fecund soils. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is "Manzanita" and "The Well" by Madelyn Ilana. Length–58:01

  • Ruth and Ayana consider where a politics of love can breathe, radical softness, mindsets of abundance, climate justice advocacy, and the steps we can take to create systems of wellness. Ruth guides us to think about what practices and acts of care we can implement with each other as a way of willing a more beautiful world back into existence. Learn more >

    ♫ Featured music is “My Heart Beating Drum” by Madelyn Ilana, “Don’t Steal the Land” by Høly River, and “Snow Knows White” by Mariee Siou. Length–58:52

  • Grounding this conversation within Teotitlan del Valle in Oaxaca, Mexico, amuel Bautista Lazo, brings listeners into an insightful conversation on the value of craftwork that connects us to the past and plants seeds for the future. Here, Samuel outlines the weaving traditions of the Benzaa people, offering insight into a trade and lifeway shaped intimately by ancestry and the land. Together, Ayana and Samuel open up a compelling conversation surrounding topics of tourism, extraction, and the unique situation of rural communities amidst rapid globalization and commercialization. How can we pass on the values of slow and sustainable living? More info >

    ♫ Featured music is "Snow Knows White" and "Coyote With the Flowering Heart" by Mariee Siou. Length-57:49

  • In this winding and lucid conversation, Sophie Strand invites us to investigate our relationality, to embrace rot and decay, to welcome our demons to the dinner table, and to prepare for uncertain futures with tenderness. Sophie brings to light the wisdom of the compost heap. Rather than shirking the thought of death and decay, Sophie introduces myths and lessons that bring us closer to the messy and unpredictable cycles of humanity. The conversation brings rooted context to the stories that revitalize us as humans, and the proverbial compost heap brings new life to earth-sustaining ritual and relationship. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Cave Vaults (Instrumental)” and “Empty Vessels” by Tan Cologne and “Texas Reznikoff” by Mitski. Length-57:51

  • As fluidly as water, Stephen Jenkinson uses language to disrupt clinging and confusion. Part of his magic is in illuminating where we have come from by masterfully tracing language down dark burrows to ancient roots. He teaches for example, that etymologically, to be awake is to be gathered into the web of consequence. We are living through a time when there are more people, more creatures, more plants, more cultures, dying than ever before. Where we are forced to recognize that growth untethered to consequence is like cancer. The debts of generations past have accrued to us, but not the wisdom. Our inheritance of obligation, of reciprocity, has been broken and we are left with what is dying, but without any understanding of how to be with it. More info >

    ♫ The music featured in this episode is by Jess Williamson. Length–55:38

  • If we need the Earth, does the Earth need us? We dive deep into the relationship amongst ourselves and the Earth with guest Tiokasin Ghosthorse. We begin our conversation by talking about the savior mentality that can arise when we act to address the many issues that threaten Earth and kin at this moment. Recognizing the trickiness of interrogating this mentality that is often intertwined with emotions of loss, love, and protection, Tiokasin offers that perhaps rather than being guided by solutions and salvation, we acknowledge where we are at in this consciousness and how we can challenge ourselves to give back to the Earth without intrusion. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is“Simple and Sweet” by Harrison Foster and “Beauty Thunders” and “The Old Ways Restored” by Peia. Length–57:31

  • Tricia Hersey joins Ayana to unwind the complicated ties of exhaustion and exploitation. Tricia’s words serve as incantations against the brainwashing of grind culture as she and Ayana investigate the systems that benefit from keeping us stagnant. This conversation is the sacred balm so many of us need as we face the grief of knowing that the systems we are born into will not serve us and will not bring us true, liberated rest and life. Drawing deep inspiration from her ancestors, histories of marronage, and long standing traditions of Black resistance, Tricia leans into the prophetic dreams that have long allowed for life outside of systems of exploitation. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “My Hair” (instrumental) by Real J Wallace and “Folklorism” and "El Coqui's Dream" by Fabian Almazan Trio. Length-58:01

  • With a historical analysis of slavery and plantation labor, this episode prompts us, at this critical time, to consider what is stolen from those among us who cannot rest under white supremacy and capitalism. In this incredibly rich offering, we speak with Tricia on the myths of grind culture, rest as resistance, and reclaiming our imaginative power through sleep. Capitalism and white supremacy have tricked us into believing that our self-worth is tied to our productivity. Tricia shares with us the revolutionary power of rest. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Africa” by Seba Kaapstad, “Peace” by Real J Wallace, and “I Rise Up” by Beautiful Chorus. Length-56:46

  • In maddening times of dissonance and disconnection, Tyson speaks to the need for the right story, for lore. Tyson discusses rampant disinformation, the stories that prop up empire, and the need for lore that cuts through such propagandistic drivel. Learn More >

    ♫ Featured music is “Desert Nightflower” by Leo James with Patience Records. Length–57:55

  • Yunkaporta begins by sharing the connections between perception, the branding of our identities, and the many forms of capital that become available and valuable in a perception-obsessed society. As we welcome the call to change our conditions and participate in the great “thousand-year clean-up”, we explore hybridized insight, the ramifications of clinging to dichotomous identities, and how genuine diversity is tangible preparedness and emotional resilience in motion. Oscillating between the differences between conditions and perceptions, Tyson calls us to unbrand our minds and deeply interrogate where we are sourcing our thoughts from, the ramifications of becoming a trauma-obsessed society, and how to identify environments for emergence. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Wanderlust” by 40 Million Feet, “Battlefields” by Marty O’Reilly & the Old Soul Orchestra, and “Path You’ve Never Seen” by Violet Bell. Length-56:31

  • Valarie Kaur reminds us that for millennia prophetic voices have been trying to remind us that we belong to each other, here on Earth, and if we were to recognize this simple truth, what would the world look like? Valarie shares that in recognizing this reality of inherent belonging, we might have to “love beyond what evolution requires.” A revolutionary love for each other, our opponents, and ourselves. As so many of us feel divine rage in this moment of painful transformation, we also tap into the practice of summoning our ancestors as we collectively strategize ways to birth a new world. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Dreamcatcher” by AMAARA and “Stone Carving” by Madeleine Sophia. Length-55:52

  • Dr. Shiva discusses how we are being set up to become accessories to the digital world and how we can reclaim our intellectual freedom and sovereignty from the hands of digital dictatorship. This episode is a powerful reminder that we are meant to live beautiful lives as sovereign beings, not as digital appendages. We are nourished by the examples of freedom Vandana seeds inspiration from and the power of compassionate courage. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is “Picking Moths” by John Newton, “Augmented” by Lady Moon & The Eclipse, and “Humm” and “Wild Seed” by Dzidzor. Length–57:43

  • Veda Austin invites us to consider and grow closer to water – as both a preciously vital and often overlooked life source. Veda’s work researching and making art with water has allowed her an intimate look into water’s role on Earth and within our lives. Water is our companion, and more than just companion, it is what makes us. We are continually obliged to water, and it to us, as we are in an interdependent relationship with it. Veda calls us to investigate our liquid selves – the tears and sweat that make us human, the rituals of baptism and bathing that connect us to that which lies beyond. Veda reminds us that we are a “fluid, intelligent body of water, minerals, salts and consciousness.” Water provides the tides of our lives. Reverence for water should inspire a reverence for ourselves. More info >

    ♫ Featured music is "The Memory of Water" by Strong Sun Moon/Camelia Jade and "Divine Surrendering" by Doe Paoro. Length–55:26

  • Woman Stands Shining coalesces topics of Indigenous sovereignty, land back, how gender and consent behave in different paradigms, and the vital importance of moving out of modernity’s obsession with intellectualism as the primary way of knowing, into a powerful call to choose a timeless paradigm that is life-affirming for us all.

    ♫ Featured musid is "ohhhiiiii" by The Range of Light Wilderness, "Honey in My Heart" by Violet Bell, and "Rain" by Sea Stars. Length–57:29

  • Following the thread lines of Yoalli’s research in and connection to Mexico, the conversation dives deep into an understanding of Mestizo geographies and the politics of refusal in the face of oppressive power. Within this context, Yoalli and Ayana discuss the importance of ecological grief, rage, and sadness.

    ♫ Featured music is “Songs of the Forgotten” by Fabian Almazan Trio, “Time Away From Time” by Eliza Edens, and “Waterkeeper” by PALO-MAH. Length–58:52

 

Work with Us

Job Title: Contract Sound Editor & Audio Engineer

Location: Remote (with potential for occasional travel)

Rate: $45/hour

Hours: Up to 10 hours per week (flexible, project-based) + opportunity for more during field production

Start Date: Immediate / Flexible

Position Type: Contract / Freelance

Application Deadline: Immediate

About Us

For The Wild is a grassroots media organzation devoted to land intimacy, co-liberation, and intersectional storytelling. Our work highlights deeply-felt meaning making as balms for these times. Our episodes explore the edges—where myth meets moss, where grief and beauty intertwine, and where the wild isn’t something 'out there,' but something we’re continually remembering and weaving back into our ways of being.

We’re looking for an experienced, intuitive, and technically skilled Sound Editor & Audio Engineer to help us shape episodes that feel less like content and more like a companion—audio that beckons, balms, and holds listeners as they are, wherever they are. We tend to stories that carry depth, nuance, and a sense of belonging in a time of unraveling.

This remote position offers flexible hours, while providing an opportunity to join a creative, values-driven team dedicated to cultivating deep listening and Earth-connected media.

Key Responsibilities

  • Edit raw audio recordings to produce professional-quality audio series

  • Mix and master multi-track audio (dialogue, music, field recordings, ambient sound)

  • Clean audio using tools like RX, removing noise, hums, pops, and interruptions

  • Incorporate music and sound design to enhance mood, tone, and storytelling

  • Create multiple versions of each episode for radio, standard, and extended formats

  • Collaborate with producers, hosts, and guests to align on the desired emotional/sonic feel

  • Ensure audio meets loudness standards and platform-specific requirements (Spotify, Apple, etc.)

  • Organize and archive audio files, project sessions, and backups

  • Support on-location recording when needed, including mic setup, monitoring, and field gear

  • Manage ongoing music submissions and music label partnerships

  • Advise on and manage podcast distribution tech (hosting, RSS, metadata)

Qualifications & Experience

  • Proven experience in audio editing and sound engineering, ideally in podcast or documentary work

  • Proficiency in software like Riverside, Adobe Premiere, and Adobe Audition

  • Proficiency with audio restoration tools

  • Strong sound design sensibility and creative instincts

  • Familiar with For The Wild and our audience

  • Deep listening and storytelling intuition

  • Experience working with spiritual, ecological, or socially conscious media a big plus

  • Ability to meet deadlines and manage multiple projects independently

  • Reliable internet connection and remote work setup

  • Available for periodic travel and flexible with time zones when needed

Personal Qualities

  • Passionate about spiritual ecology, deep ecology, or environmental justice

  • Deep respect for diverse spiritual traditions, Earth-based practices, and indigenous voices

  • Collaborative, communicative, and receptive to feedback

  • Highly creative with an openness to experimenting with sound, rhythm, and ambience

  • Self-motivated, organized, and attuned to nuance and detail

To Apply

Click the button below to upload the following:

  • Resume or CV

  • Brief cover letter outlining your interest in the role and how your experience aligns

  • Link to your portfolio, website, or samples of previous audio work (especially podcast, documentary, or immersive projects)

  • Two references with phone and email contacts

Questions? Reach out to our team at connect@forthewild.world.