Ivan Illich and travel
Hampi, India
Ivan Illich and travel
Everything I see is colored by my understanding of the writing of Ivan Illich. His writing at times seems self-evident and at other times obscure. An excerpt from one of the better biographies of Illich on the web, his obituary in the Guardian newspaper of London, says:
"Best known for his polemical writings against western institutions from the 1970s, which were easily caricatured by the right and were, equally, disdained by the left for their attacks on the welfare state, in the last 20 years of his life he became an officially forgotten, troublesome figure (like Noam Chomsky today in mainstream America). This position obscures the true importance of his contribution. His critique of modernity was founded on a deep understanding of the birth of institutions in the 13th century, a critical period in church history which enlightened all of his work, whether about gender, reading or materiality. He was far more significant as an archaeologist of ideas, someone who helped us to see the present in a truer and richer perspective, than as an ideologue."
For a more extensive but by no means complete outline of his thinking, see A Turbulent Priest in the Global Village: Ivan Illich, 1926–2002, by Richard Wall.
The best introduction to his thinking is a book-long interview by David Cayley, Ivan Illich in Conversation. Half-a-chapter a morning with a cup of coffee is a good way to reflect on his thinking.
I see also that The Rivers North Of The Future: The Testament Of Ivan Illich as told to David Cayley has been published. I will have to get my hands on a copy, somehow.
I had the good fortune to attend Illich's lectures for two winters in the mid-nineteen-nineties. His lectures were a thing unto themselves, a unique experience.
Now, traveling, I see new things every day. What would Illich say about that?, I ask myself. His writing covered such breadth, and he looked at things in such a unique way, that I don't have an answer ready.
I am always struck by the failure of institutions, and the creativity of ordinary folk to circumvent them. In India I see both of these every day.
Ivan Illich and travel
