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Seda Saine Explores Cultural Ecology
The central theme of Gaia U Bachelors Associate Seda Saine’s work is the integration of culture and ecology. In his view, there is a very real cultural poverty created by the sense of separation from the natural world that most people in our society feel.
“I believe that there are lots of different ways to relate to the world and to understand the universe through the world…The current mainstream paradigm we’re all subject to is fundamentally different from the older story that was the dominant culture for thousands of years. We’ve strayed from our ancestral ways of living symbiotically with nature and, as a result, our culture has lost a lot of its intricate depth and beauty. The diversity of a culture is destroyed at the same time as the diversity of its ecosystems.”
The two primary projects that Seda is involved in are both deeply rooted in a recognition of the interconnectedness of culture and ecology: The Mbira Project strives to preserve the ancient musical traditions of Zimbabwe; Walking the Hoop is an effort to re-wild the Great Basin territory in the Southwestern United States.
The mbira is an ancient traditional instrument of Zimbabwe commonly known as the ‘thumb piano’. Seda began studying mbira at the age of 17 in Seattle. There, one of his first teachers asked him to become part of MBIRA, a non-profit organization for which he now serves as Assistant Director. The project has been supporting musicians and artists in Zimbabwe for the past ten years by organizing workshops and tours to promote traditional music and musical instruments.
MBIRA has recently begun bringing the interconnection of culture and ecology to the forefront of its work. Its first project in this vein involves the widespread replanting of the native ‘mubvamaropa’ tree. This tree traditionally used to make mbiras, the mubvamaropa was almost wiped by over-harvesting for use in the construction of furniture by colonists. This has seriously affected the availability of the instrument whose makers rely on this local wood supply. As a result, the ancient art form of mbira playing is increasingly endangered. MBIRA hopes to reverse this trend through the new tree-planting program.
Seda is also one of the main coordinators of Pulling for Wildflowers, a re-wilding effort spearheaded by Finisia Medrano. For almost 30 years Finisia has been practicing the traditional nomadic lifestyle of the Great Basin peoples, sometimes referred to as “walking the hoop”, which is based upon following patterns of native edible plant growth.
“The native inhabitants of the Great Basin lived in a symbiotic relationship with their natural surroundings. They had ways of gathering food that gave back life to the earth that produced it,” Seda explains. In the Great Basin area, many plant species that native peoples traditionally relied upon for food are dying out as a result of careless land management. Medrano has been very active replanting the native species under threat of extinction in her bioregion. For his part, Seda is experimenting with re-wilding in Southwestern Colorado and Northwestern New Mexico. He has also taken on the role of documentarian and is helping to rework an autobiography/manifesto that Finisia has created.
The Pulling for Wildflowers project is actively seeking landowners who are willing to host their re-wilding efforts. Re-wilding on public or government land means risking the involvement of the Bureau of Land Management or other groups that may not respect the work being done. If you are interested in having your site become a re-wilding sanctuary, please contact Seda at
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In addition to these two major projects, Seda is also engaged in the study of several other indigenous languages and forms of expressive cuture as a way to reconnect with the stories and spirit of our ancestors.
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Associate's Work 
