The Relationship Between Relational Cultures and 'Soft' Anarchy

Indigenous tribes such as the Yawanawa in Brazil can be described by having a relational culture, autonomy and soft anarchy (based on my research in 2023)

Hello, world! Today, I will share my vision of relational cultures and their relationship with what I call "soft" anarchy. Relational cultures are one of the pillars of my book on communities, but the concept can be applied to a much larger—or smaller—scope than just communities.

The Role of Autonomy

Relational cultures, for me, are explained by two seemingly contradictory pillars that actually reinforce each other. These two pillars are autonomy and relationships. Autonomy is characterized by individuals who possess a certain degree of self-centeredness and self-awareness. They have a certain degree of insight into themselves and the world around them. This enables them to act autonomously. They know what they want, their strengths, challenges, and character.

What are Relational Cultures?

Relational cultures oppose the two dominant cultural organizational forms in the world today: individual and collective cultures. In individual cultures, each person is responsible for their own well-being. People are individual units that operate within societies based on a set of limited, individual roles: citizen, consumer, and production unit. This form of cultural organization has led to many of the problems we face today, such as loneliness, depression, depletion, and exhaustion. The second dominant form of cultural organization is collectivist cultures. In these cultures, the uniqueness of every human being is suppressed for the well-being of the group. Although collectivist cultures are losing ground in our globalizing world, they can still be found in countries such as Japan. In collectivist cultures, face, status, and conformity lead to hidden depression, a drive to perform, and shame when expectations are not met. Suicide rates are high in countries that demand high levels of conformity from individuals.

Relational cultures are among the least understood forms of group organization. Though they exist in the margins of our world today, they were probably the dominant form of organization in the early years of humanity. Although Robin Wall Kimmerer does not write about relational cultures in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, she does mention reciprocal and gratitude-based cultures. Reciprocity is an important element of relational cultures, as is gratitude. I propose that relational cultures are cultures that carry meaning and purpose, inviting gratitude. Hence, cultures of gratitude. In short, relational cultures are best suited for human beings and our more-than-human world. These are cultures in which one is embedded and connected with others, including not only humans, but also nature and our planet.

Roles are not rigid and change over time as people progress through different life stages.

Lessons from the Yawanawa

When I was in the Amazon, I got to know the Yawanawa indigenous people, who had well-established relationships and a high degree of autonomy. The people in the village where I lived moved as an organism because everyone was fully autonomous. When human beings are not overly restricted by expectations, they flourish. This benefits the whole community. Some people are born leaders, builders, hunters, or caretakers. These roles are not rigid and change over time as people progress through different life stages. Autonomy stems from a different view of human beings, one based on trust rather than mistrust, which unfortunately forms the basis of our Western view of human beings.

In Basque Country (Southwest France and Northwest Spain) the people upholded soft anarchy for millenia due to the inaccesibility of the landscape and less foreign influences (see also 'for further reading' below)

Soft Anarchy Explained

But what is the relationship between relational cultures and anarchy? As you've already noted, I call it "soft" anarchy. Let me explain that term before we turn to the relationship between the two. In popular culture, anarchy is often seen as chaos and lawlessness. Anarchists are often viewed as revolutionaries, troublemakers, or even extremists. To me, this is one of the many false narratives told in our societies, where lawlessness is seen as a threat. To gently introduce anarchy, I use the term "soft anarchy" because my interpretation of anarchy is quite different. To me, anarchy is autonomy practiced on the basis of the group, not the individual. In TEK (traditional ecological knowledge or native wisdom), for example, the idea is that people who intimately know the land and its resources also know best how to interact with the natural world. This is true not only for the natural ecosystems they inhabit but also within the group and between them and their neighbors. Therefore, decisions are of the highest quality when they are made at the grassroots level and not by any form of leadership from afar, like our governments. When decisions affect other groups, locals and regional leaders can meet and discuss them. For me, this is the essence of anarchy: autonomous individuals and groups defining and shaping their own lives and cooperating with the wider ecosystem. This cooperation is often sustainable rather than exploitative.

"When humans are allowed—or better yet, have the right—to define their lives, we tend to be better people."

Relational Cultures and Ecosystems

When humans are allowed—or better yet, have the right—to define their lives, follow their paths, and can expect support from the wider community, we tend to be better people. This is probably because our basic human needs are met. One important aspect of what makes us human is our social nature. In other words, we connect. First, we connect with other human beings, but it doesn't stop there. We also connect with animals, trees, landscapes, and ecosystems. This is the core of relational cultures, which logically implies anarchy and local decision-making. I use the term "soft" to avoid deterring my readers, but it also implies an evolutionary roadmap towards relational cultures. For now, it would be too much to delve deeply into this topic. I will discuss this further in my book on communities, which I hope to finish writing next year.

In my upcoming book Relational Cultures and Autonomy — An Alternative for Our Modern Way of Living, I explore how relational cultures can transform not only communities, but society at large.

I wish you an autonomous life full of beautiful relationships!

Wende

For further reading:

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (2021): David Graeber and David Wengrow.

Describing the diversity of early human societies, the book critiques traditional narratives of history's linear development from primitivism to civilization. Instead, The Dawn of Everything posits that humans lived in large, complex, but decentralized polities for millennia. (source: Wikipedia)