Learning from Indigenous Societies
In the Way [8], Edward Goldsmith applies the term vernacular to denote a
“society and to various features of such society that are self-organizing and selfgoverning, rather than being organized externally by the state and its institutions, or
commercial operations. The term is usually applied to a social group’s local dialect or
architecture. More appropriately something that springs out of a local culture.
Vernacular societies mythologized life in the animal kingdom and managed their
livelihood according to a code of conduct rooted in nature” [8].