Traditional Knowledge

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Dmitriy October (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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Original Air Date: 
January 31, 2016

Reading books isn't always the best way to learn. Some things you need to learn from your elders, and their wisdom has often been passed down through the generations. We celebrate traditional ways of knowing - from the Potawatomi knowledge of the plant world to the Norwegian folk wisdom of how to chop and burn wood. Also, what modern Westerners can learn from traditional societies.

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You'd never think a book about chopping and burning wood would turn into a runaway bestseller, but Lars Mytting's "Norwegian Wood" is a publishing sensation in Scandinavia. 

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Master blacksmith Tong Khai Vang and his apprentice and translator Kong Mong Yang show us the art of turning hot metal into Hmong knives.

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Botanist Robin Kimmerer describes her field experiments as like interviewing a plant. As both a Ph.D biologist and a member of the Potawatomi Nation, she's trying to reconcile modern science with the wisdom of her Native elders.

"The Wayfinders" by Wade Davis
Bookmarks

Composer Philip Glass says he was transported by "The Wayfinders" — Wade Davis' celebration of indigenous cultures.

Audio

Wade Davis has been called the Indiana Jones of anthropology. He says the aboriginal people of Australia have a fundamentally different way of seeing the world than we do in modern society.

Length: 
8:07
Kerepunu women at the marketplace of Kalo, British New Guinea, 1885
Articles

A conversation with renowned biologist Jared Diamond, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Guns, Germs and Steel.” His new book is “The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?”

Length: 
11:00
Show Details 📻
Airdates
January 31, 2016
November 13, 2016
April 12, 2018
November 30, 2019
July 10, 2021
November 05, 2022
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Last modified: 
November 04, 2022