I speak with Max Dashu, founder of the Suppressed Histories Archive, and author of Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700–1100. In this interview, Max draws on a lifetime of historical research, documenting and interpreting the art and artifacts of ancient cultures from around the world.

Max elaborates on what can be understood about ancient mother-right cultures and the worldview these ancient peoples may have held, as well as the important and necessary roles women fulfilled in these ancient societies. Max also expounds on the kinds of knowledge and traditions of wisdom (passed on through women) that have been suppressed and largely lost in our collective transition to modernity. By developing an understanding of the forms of knowledge and wisdom that have been lost in the long-unfolding suppression of ancient traditions, what can we ultimately understand about our modern mode of existence on this planet?

Patrick Farnsworth

Silvia Federici, 106

In this episode, Silvia Federici goes over many of the details and themes in her groundbreaking book Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation, an extensive history of the body in the transition to capitalism. Silvia discusses the conditions that led to the witch-hunts in medieval Europe, and the lasting impact these events have had on the trajectory of capitalist development into the modern era. Silvia provides a description of the social and economic system—feudalism—that governed societies in medieval Europe, and how the events and struggles that occurred during that time period led to the economic and social system—capitalism—that dominates our lives today.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Foundry is a blog by Rebecca Thao. Her posts explore modern architecture through photos and quotes by influential architects, engineers, and artists.

May 14 Suppressed Histories: Uncovering + Reclaiming What Has Been Lost / Max Dashu

May 14 Caliban + The Witch: The Body In The Transition To Capitalism / Silvia Federici