Rediscovering, valuing, and embracing Indigenous spirituality and wisdom is critical for humanity to survive in the future.

Civilization is a western, Eurocentric construct borne from a distrust of nature, a desire to endlessly exploit it and profit from it. Despite being a relatively recent development, civilization’s inherent logic has resulted in over-population, inequality, poverty, misery, war, and climate change and now threatens humanity’s very survival. How can humanity expect to survive if it continues to look for solutions from the very structures and ideologies that have brought it to the brink of extinction?

In this final book of his trilogy, Dr. Blair Stonechild deftly illustrates how Indigenous spirituality, wisdom, and land-based knowledge is critical to human survival in the face of environmental destruction and human-induced climate change. Reinterpreting world history from an Indigenous perspective, Stonechild’s solution to this unfolding catastrophe is “ecolization,” a state in which humans recognize they are not the central purpose of creation and a way of existing harmoniously with the natural and spiritual worlds.

Beautifully written, urgent, and critical, Challenge to Civilization reminds us that it is not Earth that is in danger of extinction, but ourselves, and Indigenous spiritual wisdom can be the guiding light through what will otherwise be humanity’s final, ever-darkening days.

Blair Stonechild is a Cree-Saulteaux member of the Muscowpetung First Nation and professor of Indigenous Studies at First Nations University of Canada. He is the author of The Knowledge Seeker: Embracing Indigenous Spirituality and Buffy Sainte-Marie: It’s My Way. He lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

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"This is ancient Indigenous wisdom at its most urgent contemporary pitch. Author Blair Stonechild is a member of the Muscowpetung First Nation in Saskatchewan and a wonderful writer... A professor at First Nations University of Canada for several decades, Stonechild’s message needs to be heard. He offers nothing less than a reinterpretation of the history of the world from an Indigenous perspective." —Spirituality & Practice

"A thought-provoking work that embraces Indigenous spirituality and wisdom. Ideal for environmentalists and scholars of Indigenous beliefs." —Library Journal

“Combining scholarship, lived experience, Indigenous Knowledge, and Elder wisdom, this book inspires readers to think about important ideas that impact our everyday lives.” —Kathy Absolon, Wilfrid Laurier University

“A global call for moral revolution: a return to Indigenous wisdom to save humanity post-civilization.” —Chantal Fiola, author of Returning to Ceremony: Spirituality in Manitoba Métis Communities

“Based on Indigenous ontology, spirituality, wisdom, and critique, Stonechild coins ecolization—respect for the natural world—as a road map to deal with civilization’s reckoning.” —Leonzo Barreno