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👜 A Unified Theory of the Handbag

Audrey Wollen reimagines human evolution through the humble act of carrying. What if the first tool wasn't a weapon but a bag — to hold babies, berries and the beginnings of culture? Drawing on Elizabeth Fisher's 'Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution' and Ursula Le Guin's echo of it, Wollen sti

Danu Poyner

· 1 minute

A unified theory of the handbag
yalereview.org

Audrey Wollen reimagines human evolution through the humble act of carrying. What if the first tool wasn't a weapon but a bag — to hold babies, berries and the beginnings of culture? Drawing on Elizabeth Fisher's 'Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution' and Ursula Le Guin's echo of it, Wollen stitches together care, narrative and kinship in all their misremembered glory. Oscar Wilde, of course, makes a cameo. A handbag? Quite.

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Danu Poyner

Danu is a writer and founder of Grokkist, a learning community in the deepest sense. His work centres on coherence, curiosity, and helping people make sense of themselves in relation to ideas, experience, and one another.

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