About this episode

Matthew explores the concept of wetiko and its various interpretations across different ideological frameworks.

Matthew traces the concept of wetiko — a Cree figure for a cannibal spirit whose hunger grows with what it consumes — from its original anticolonial and anti-imperialist meaning in Jack Forbes's 1992 book Columbus and Other Cannibals, through Derrick Jensen's anti-civilization lense, Ladha and Kirk's 2016 application to neoliberal capitalism, Paul Levy's syncretic New Age elaboration, and finally to Bernhard Guenther and Laura Matsue's QAnon-adjacent version.  Wetiko's metaphysical framing, inherited from Forbes's explicit rejection of Marxist materialism, left the concept open to spiritual recuperation by the right. He proposes a different application: reading wetiko through David Harvey's "capital surplus absorption problem," compound growth's insatiable hunger for profitable outlets. Show Notes Columbus and Other Cannibals (Jack D. Forbes) — Internet Archive  Derrick Jensen interview, "The Left has never been against civilization" — Platypus Affiliated Society  Exorcising Wetiko — Journal of Futures Studies  Seeing Wetiko: On Capitalism, Mind Viruses, and Antidotes for a World in Transition — Kosmos Journal  Dispelling Wetiko — Chaucer's Books Wetiko…

People in this episode

Guest: Matthew

Topics covered

• wetiko
• cannibal spirit
• anticolonialism
• neoliberal capitalism
• New Age
• Marxism
• capital surplus absorption

Keywords

• wetiko
• cannibal spirit
• Jack Forbes
• neoliberal capitalism
• Marxist materialism
• New Age
• capital surplus absorption

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Platypus Affiliated Society, Kosmos Journal, Chaucer's Books, Simon & Schuster, Book Soup, veilofreality.com, Apple Podcasts, Piercing the Ve

Books & works: Columbus and Other Cannibals, Exorcising Wetiko, Seeing Wetiko: On Capitalism, Mind Viruses, and Antidotes for a World in Transition, Dispelling Wetiko, Wetiko: Healing the Mind-Virus That Plagues Our World, Undreaming Wetiko, Divide & Conquer and the Wetiko Mind Virus, The Cosmic Matrix

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