Link: “Could the Blackfoot Wisdom That Inspired Maslow Guide Us Now?”
Interesting blog post about when Maslow (best known for his “hierarchy of needs”) spent six weeks with the Siksika Nation in 1938. What he found there was:
astounding levels of cooperation, minimal inequality, restorative justice, full bellies, and high levels of life satisfaction. He estimated that ‘80–90% of the Blackfoot tribe had a quality of self-esteem that was only found in 5–10% of his own population’
Perhaps the egalitarian communalism that characterises so many First Nations societies is better for the human psyche than Western-style individualism.
Jessica Smith is a socialist and a feminist who loves animals, books, gaming, and cooking; she’s also interested in linguistics, history, technology and society.