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Nov. 16, 2023
Systems of Peace
Since it was published in 1987, Riane Eisler’s groundbreaking international bestseller The Chalice And The Blade has launched a full frontal challenge to the conventional story of our cultural origins - and has given us a brand new way to think about...
Since it was published in 1987, Riane Eisler’s groundbreaking international bestseller The Chalice And The Blade has launched a full frontal challenge to the conventional story of our cultural origins - and has given us a brand new way to think about our ancient past, our present and how we shape our future. It upended the major religions we take for granted, the idea of eternal patriarchy and eternal war, and brought into focus the historical events that turned our human cultures from peaceful partnership systems that held women in respectful regard - to that of brutal, exploitative dominator cultures that venerate men and violence.
More than 30 years hence, Riane reflects on the impact of Chalice, which is often compared to that of Darwin’s Origin of Species - and her body of work that followed - works like The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics; the award-winning Tomorrow's Children and her latest work Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives & Future.
A celebrated cultural historian and evolutionary theorist, as well as founder of Center for Partnership Studies, Riane’s research has influenced fields including history, philosophy, economics, psychology, sociology, education, human rights, social and political science, and healthcare. Now in her 90s, Riane is still honing her super-power: synthesizing wildly disparate disciplines and weaving them all into a cohesive worldview full of hope and useful instructions for a better future.
Credits
Host: Elle Kamihira
Produced by Elle Kamihira
Audio Engineering by Jason Sheesley at Abridged Audio
Cover Art by Bee Johnson
Music by Beware of Darkness
Riane Eisler
Social Systems Scientist & Author
Riane Eisler, JD, PhD (h), is the recipient of many honors, such as the Distinguished Peace Leadership Award earlier given to the Dalai Lama, and internationally known for her groundbreaking contributions as a systems scientist, futurist, and cultural historian. She is author of many books, including The Chalice and the Blade, now in its 57th US printing and 27 foreign editions, The Real Wealth of Nations, hailed by Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu as "a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking," and Nurturing Our Humanity, Oxford University Press, 2019, co-authored with Douglas P. Fry.
Eisler’s innovative whole-systems research offers new perspectives and practical tools for constructing a less violent, more egalitarian, gender-balanced, and sustainable future. Eisler is President of the Center for Partnership Systems, which provides practical applications of her work, and Editor in Chief of the online Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies published at the University of Minnesota. She keynotes conferences worldwide, has taught at many universities, has written hundreds of articles and contributions to both scholarly and popular books, pioneered the application of human rights standards to women and children, has addressed the UN General Assembly, and consults to businesses and governments on the partnership model introduced by her work.