"Women are the First Environment"

A new episode of On Being, with Katsi Cook

Image by Carson Linforth Bowley.

Katsi Cook is a beacon in an array of quiet powerful worlds — a magnetic, joyous, loving presence. The public conversation we offer up here was part of a gathering where a fantastic group of young people had come to be nourished, to explore the depths of what community can mean, to become more grounded and whole. They've taken to sitting at the feet of this Mohawk wise woman, mother, and grandmother, and you will experience why. Globally renowned in the field of midwifery, Katsi’s practice and teaching is based in ancient ancestral knowledge, and has taken an esteemed place in research and advances in the science of environmental reproductive health. As founder of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives of Canada, her work is at heart, she says, about the "reclamation of the transformative power of birth." Katsi is helping our world recover the natural human experience of cross-generational companionship and care. This conversation you'll hear between her and Krista, sitting in a room of mostly young people, was an exercise in the art of eldering — which Katsi calls nothing more and nothing less than "generational wealth transmission."

Or listen wherever podcasts are found. Please note that in an earlier version of this episode Krista mistakenly referred to Loretta Afraid of Bear Cook as Roberta. This has been corrected in later downloads.

Find an excellent transcript of this show, edited by humans, on our show page.