Grounding in reality

A Topographic Map of the World none Frame; The Pacific Ocean, center.

This image is in the public domain because it came from the site https://www.demis.nl/products/web-map-server/examples/ and was released by the copyright holder. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this map since it is based on free-of-copyright images from: www.demis.nl

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After raising and fermenting on so many questions and observations in the previous sections of this journey, we invite you to ground your learning journey in a particular reality. 

For us, co-designers, ‘Grounding in Reality’ means embodying knowledge, connecting theory to experience, connecting understanding with senses, to ground knowledge in contextual reality. 

Therefore, to start we curated histories from different places:

Venezuela, Ethiopia, West Papua, and Myanmar
 

We tried to share some of the many stories of each territory. We chose stories from various sources to invite you to fall in love with these places and their communities and to hold space for the complexity of the cultures and the many ways the stories emerge.

We suggest you choose one context/territory to start with, then marinate in its complexity and bring your potluck to the learning community. 

Observe and illustrate patterns you see within it around power (individually or with your peers). Then if you choose to, you can explore others.

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Each country will be presented following the structure:

• Natural Environment
• Anthropological History
• Society & Culture
• Current Socioeconomic Crisis

Keep in mind that we are not trying to tell one history of each country, we curated many stories of each place. 

As you read about them, look at the pictures, listen to their music, read from their news, watch some of the selected documentaries, and get more aware of these many contexts. Make sure to observe what emerges within you (like feelings, judgments, and memories) as you go through the curated content.