The European Mind

The European Mind is a global examination of Western power informed by a First Nations perspective. It delves into Christianity, capitalism, and 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. Bruce 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. 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.