All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

— United Nations (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Join Bruce Pascoe as he unravels the ideas that shaped our world—and asks what we might recover, reimagine and grow differently for the future.

The European Mind is a global examination of Western power informed by a First Nations perspective; Christianity, Capitalism, Colonialism and how our colonial history directly impacts where we are now. The European Mind contends that European imperialism was not only driven by economic and exploratory factors but motivated by a self-perpetuating belief based on moral superiority, racial hierarchy, spiritual entitlement and an insatiable greed paraded as economics. Pascoe traces how these ideas became a ‘truth’ through which religion, history, myth and storytelling changed the lives of countless peoples, countries and continents through violence, dispossession and environmental exploitation.

In this timely new work, Pascoe turns his attention to the ideas and systems that have shaped the modern world, examining the intertwined histories of colonialism, capitalism and Christianity and their profound impacts on people, culture and Country. Bringing his distinctive voice as a writer, thinker and storyteller, Pascoe asks us to consider how these inherited ways of seeing continue to influence our relationships with land, community and one another—and what it might mean to imagine something different.

Framed by a First Nations philosophy, The European Mind challenges what we think we know about ‘history’ and picks apart beliefs and truths that sit at the heart of our society. Pascoe proposes meaningful change through shifts in cultural and moral thought, the rebalancing of relationships, demolishing the myth of superiority and a rethinking of capitalism as the only system. The European Mind critiques the ideas behind empire and takes readers on a journey of how we arrived here and where we hope to be.

For this special Adelaide book launch, join Bruce in conversation as he explores the ideas behind The European Mind, the histories we inherit, and how deeper attention to Country and First Nations knowledge might help us rethink the future.

Bruce Pascoe is an Aboriginal farmer and writer of literary fiction, non-fiction, poetry, essays and children’s literature, based on Yuin Country.

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