Animating Freedom

Accompanying Indigenous struggles for self-determination

Jason MacLeod

• Editorial: Interactive Publications Pty Ltd
• Año: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781925231984
• Categoría: Teología y religión
• Categoría: Denominaciones cristianas

In the 2019 Backhouse Lecture, Jason MacLeodshares what he has learnt about accompanying West Papuans – and to a lesser extent Aboriginal people, Bougainvilleans and East Timorese – in their struggle for self-determination. Through personal stories, he tries to make sense of this experience in ways that might speak more broadly to Quakers. This lecture is a deeply personal reflection on what one person thinks it takes to animate freedom and accompany Indigenous peoples on a journey from empire to the 'good life.'

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Second interlude: The 1,000-drum canoe

My Papuan friends speak of their island as bird—a beautiful bird of paradise—green and blue, lightly brushed with the white of snow-capped peaks, resting just above Australia. In the west, the bird’s head looks towards the Indonesian archipelago. Stretched out behind the bird’s body, a long luxuriant tail flows east to Papua New Guinea. In conversation, song and imagery, the bird is never cut in half. The ...