I love the slow, meandering, braided river like narrative flow of this piece, that then speeds up to the explosive gush in Nadine’s words. What a wonderful Sunday evening read. I can anticipate all the different places it can flow in my teaching and research. Thank you Anna!
Anna, this is beautiful. The mechanomorphism we are stuck in, and cannot see we are stuck in, is imprisoning us in an impoverished view of our beautiful living world. Our models of the world become the world we enact. This leads to disconnected, deadened, manipulatible everything. The language we use is not ‘just’ a metaphor; it is the visible presence of the worldview that underpins it. This is the paradigm level of the system—it is foundational. So looking forward to reading Nadine’s book ♥️
I think I found my way to your blog through a recommendation from Nadine on her newsletter!
You’ve captured the inhuman nature of much policy work very well - speaking as someone that worked in a ministry, ostensibly on policy, for several years but always felt like an outsider having come from a practice background rather than a policy theory background. Often, even though the policy logic was there, the connection to reality and how people would respond to it in practice felt missing.
Looking forward to reading Nadine’s book. She has a magic way with using the power of personal and specific details to make big picture issues very real and intimate.
Thank you for this piece Anna. Like others I feel like this has put more pieces into a puzzle I am trying figure out. I had Nadine's book on my radar and now I'm determined to seek it out.
I've also recently been learning more about the doctrine of discovery and the active separation (by colonisers and religion using the 'great chain of being') of what is natural from what is sacred. To dehumanise others we first put aside a connection to the real world - it's complexity, our relatedness. Tina Ngata writes beautifully on this and the video with Ta-Nehisi Coates is well worth the time https://tinangata.com/2025/04/03/a-prayer-for-the-coloniser/
I love the slow, meandering, braided river like narrative flow of this piece, that then speeds up to the explosive gush in Nadine’s words. What a wonderful Sunday evening read. I can anticipate all the different places it can flow in my teaching and research. Thank you Anna!
A lovely characterisation - cheers. 🙂
That’s a magic piece, and Nadine’s passage lands it perfectly.
Thank you.
Thanks, e hoa. ❤️
Anna, this is beautiful. The mechanomorphism we are stuck in, and cannot see we are stuck in, is imprisoning us in an impoverished view of our beautiful living world. Our models of the world become the world we enact. This leads to disconnected, deadened, manipulatible everything. The language we use is not ‘just’ a metaphor; it is the visible presence of the worldview that underpins it. This is the paradigm level of the system—it is foundational. So looking forward to reading Nadine’s book ♥️
You've put this beautifully.
This article is amazing Anna.
What I got from it, is...
We should start thinking about society & policy as ecosystems rather than mechanical systems.
We need to be "woke" about the fact that society is made up of living, breathing beings, not robots or machines.
It is something I will think about more going forward in my life. Thank you!
I think I found my way to your blog through a recommendation from Nadine on her newsletter!
You’ve captured the inhuman nature of much policy work very well - speaking as someone that worked in a ministry, ostensibly on policy, for several years but always felt like an outsider having come from a practice background rather than a policy theory background. Often, even though the policy logic was there, the connection to reality and how people would respond to it in practice felt missing.
Looking forward to reading Nadine’s book. She has a magic way with using the power of personal and specific details to make big picture issues very real and intimate.
Thank you for this piece Anna. Like others I feel like this has put more pieces into a puzzle I am trying figure out. I had Nadine's book on my radar and now I'm determined to seek it out.
I've also recently been learning more about the doctrine of discovery and the active separation (by colonisers and religion using the 'great chain of being') of what is natural from what is sacred. To dehumanise others we first put aside a connection to the real world - it's complexity, our relatedness. Tina Ngata writes beautifully on this and the video with Ta-Nehisi Coates is well worth the time https://tinangata.com/2025/04/03/a-prayer-for-the-coloniser/