During six weeks at the Blackfoot Reservation in the 1930’s, 30-year-old Abraham Maslow did not find support for his theory that social hierarchies are maintained by dominance. Instead, he saw a tribal community where “…levels of cooperation, minimal inequality, restorative justice, full bellies, and high levels of life satisfaction…” were the norm.
During my career in Alaska, I watched a transformation of villages from substandard houses with outhouses and honey buckets to places with more modern amenities, some more than others. Improved transportation, health care, education and water/sewer became common. Gathering traditional foods began to decline until today; many foods are unavailable during some seasons. Native people had always been able to adapt, but that adaptability began to fail in a world that was rapidly changing.
As a group of my colleagues began a collective conversation behind a concept I had about what a Village of the Future could look like, we began to discuss a current change that Aboriginal populations had already survived, the great Ice Age. Migration was required as sea levels rose and fell. Water, a changing climate, and collective wisdom seemed to guide the ancestors. Could that wisdom provide a path to the future?
The video producers in our group began to envision a Public Broadcasting Series looking backwards over 600 generations of American Indian/Alaska Native history and envisioned looking forward seven generations. By removing a current generation of self-interest in favor of selflessness, we saw a different future for the planet. The end result of this vision became a Village of the Future. By combining wisdom of the past with creative and innovative solutions in recognizing and solving current problems, we saw a pathway to a Village of the Future.
The Key to this future is to restore what Maslow saw in the Blackfoot, a level of transcendence where selflessness replaced self interest.
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