This winter session of the NSU Praxis circle was hosted by the Oulu Museum of Art. Here, we spent four days reading, writing and discussing; twenty persons from Africa, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some of us were ‘oldies’ in this group, other ‘newbies’; some were Christians, others Muslims, some from yet other religious/cultural backgrounds… Earlier Praxis sessions have been dedicated to the tales of monks and merchants,* but this time, we turned to the Muqaddimah by Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406); a highly learned jurist and historian, possessing extensive knowledge as well as a keen mind – and sometimes also named ‘the father of sociology’. For six centuries, the Muqaddimah has served as an introduction not only to history, but also to the methodologies of empiricism and critical thinking.
Obviously, a few days will be far from enough for the study of such a book . Circle facilitators Laura and Lindsey offer different approaches to help us along: reading aloud together, reading thematically from keywords, reading individually while making notes, reading in pairs while walking… One of the group reading sessions deals with Ibn Khaldun’s treatise on ‘the craft of midwifery’ – a short but extremely interesting portion of the text. Lindsey suggests that the women in the group take turns in reading, while the men listen in silence. Fareeda begins, followed by Justina, Tinka, Didi, myself, Puja, Dorcus, Emma…
“Midwifery is a craft that shows how to proceed in bringing the new-born child gently out of the womb of his mother and how to prepare the things that go with that.
/…/
This is as follows: When the embryo has gone through all its stages and is completely and perfectly formed in the womb /…/ it seeks to come out, because God implanted such a desire in (unborn children). But the opening is too narrow for it, and it is difficult for (the embryo to come out). It often splits one of the walls of the vagina by its pressure, and often the close connection and attachment of its covering membranes with the uterus are ruptured. All of this is painful and hurts very much. /…/ In this connection, the midwife may offer some succour by massaging the back, the buttocks and the lower extremities adjacent to the uterus. She thus stimulates the force pushing the embryo out /…/ She uses as much strength as she thinks is required by the difficulty (of the process).
/…/
[The] midwife undertakes to massage and correct (the new-born child) until every limb has resumed its natural shape and the position destined for it /…/ After that, she goes back to the woman in labour and massages and kneads her, so that the membranes of the embryo may come out.
/…/
She then returns to the child. She anoints its limbs with oils and dusts it with astringent powders, to strengthen it and to dry up the fluids of the uterus. /…/ She makes it swallow an electuary, in order to prevent its bowels from becoming obstructed and their walls from sticking together.
/…/
Then, she treats the woman in labour for the weakness caused by the labour pains and the pain that the separation causes her uterus. /…/ The midwife also treats the pain of the vagina that was torn and wounded by the pressure of (the child’s) coming out.
/…/
One can see that this craft is necessary to the human species in civilisation. Without it, the individuals of the species could not, as a rule, come into being…”
Clear voices transmitting substantial knowledge in a space of concentrated listening. When reading is finished, discussion begins. We note the qualities of the text; the care and factualness, the absence of misogyny. We wonder how Ibn Khaldun managed to collect this information? We compare the practices of Maghreb in the 14th century to our own – diverse – experiences. We keep listening, now to each other; male and female voices weaving invisible patterns of expanded understanding… A precious moment in time.
Apart from the reading sessions, we spend little time in the city. Our accommodation is located on one of the islands nearby, in three comfortable cabins close to the seashore. Each day, four or five from the group form a cooking team, to prepare and serve a ‘dinner keynote’: a Croatian pasta dish, a Peruvian dinner, a veggie curry… Communal cooking is another great way of getting together, and the significance of the evening meal goes even deeper as three of us are celebrating Ramadan.
After five intense days, we return home. The work continues.
Above: Oulu, city old and new;
Below: Frank doing spontaneous parkour outside the museum
*namely, Gerald of Wales, William of Rubruck and Marco Polo.
Photo credit: NASA / restoration by Toby Ord 
Helena Hildur W. 