When Joshua Arnold was preparing to lead his community group, Global Awareness Local Action (G.A.L.A.), in restoring a grange hall to create a community space for Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, he learned about barn raising, an event in which an entire community gathers to help build one household’s barn. “I had heard about it before—it’s always been in my cultural memory—but as I read more, I really became fascinated by how barn raising built a way of life centered on reciprocity,” Arnold said.
“While barns were essential to rural living, they were physically impossible to erect alone.”
For indigenous people in Peru, for thousands of years being a good steward of the forest meant speaking the language of animals and plants, and mastering the nuances of their interdependence. These days, being a good steward means in addition to this, speaking the language of oil executives and interior ministry officials, and mastering the nuances of territorial law.