I am currently writing a book on people around the world who are reviving their own culture's land-honoring rituals and ceremonies. I very much hope that this book is published and opens a new way forward for my work in the world. Otherwise, I am a community land rights lawyer who works with front-line advocates in Africa and Asia to protect Indigenous and customary land rights; I focus on the complexities of community land governance. I also help governments write land laws that protect Indigenous and customary land rights. I am a expert in my field, but have grown a bit bored and am in the process of working to transition my expertise in land and ecosystem governance to the governance of ecosystem regeneration projects, which have traditionally done a very poor job pf addressing governance.

Honestly, I am not at all sure. I am the single mother (by choice) of a 2-year old, so everything I formerly held as true and sure has gone totally out the window. I am sitting in the not knowing. If I had to answer, I would like to teach people how to be in more reverent, honoring relationship with the more-than-human world.

These days, I have very few goals: I am writing this book, raising my son as best as I can, and hoping that one day I can have a flourishing, vibrant and satisfying career again. I would like to somehow work at the intersection of land-based spirituality/land honoring and ecosystem regeneration. Right now my most pressing goal is finding a permanent place on this earth to call home, and settling in in a deep way, making relations with the land and planting my roots. Then, from that place and with my son a bit older, I think I will be able to have dreams and goals again.

I would like to have the courage to date again, and to open to being in a serious romantic partnership.

I left my very high-powered, prestigious job right before the pandemic, and have been floundering every since (professionally), as my primary focus has been on getting pregnant and raising a kid on my own. I turned down a very fancy, high-level job at WRI when my son was 6 months old, and I am scared that I will never get back into my career again. I am losing confidence in my professional relevance, and meanwhile do not have the professional drive I used to (for many reasons, including boredom with the work coming mt way, jadedness re: the field of international development, disillusion with the power of the law, etc. ). I would like, right now, to feel inspired, turned on, excited and totally motivated about work - and confident that I can become not only relevant but perhaps even a trailblazer/a change maker.

Not sure I understand this question.

Aside from land rights law, I get super excited by Human Centered Design methodologies. I love brainstorming!
Thinkers: I am a longtime student of Martin Prechtel, who has massively impacted my thinking and way of life.
Otherwise: Franz Fanon, Paulo Freire, and Ngugi Wa Thi'ongo made a big impression on me in college and shaped my thinking.

This is a massive question that I have a VERY long answer for (I am writing a whole book on it!) but right now it is 11 pm and I have to get to sleep. I am so sorry!

(My (in)capacity to find time and energy to even fill out this form makes me worried that I will not have time for this course, by the way. As a single mother of a toddler with only part time childcare who is also working as much as possible and writing a book, taking this course on top of it al feels ambitious.)