To know that other, vastly different cultures exist is to remember that our world does not exist in some absolute sense but rather is just one model of reality. Reinventing the poetry of diversity is the most important challenge of our time.—Wade Davis
In Light at the Edge of the World: A Journey through the Realm of Vanishing Cultures, Wade Davis coined the term ethnosphere to remind people that cultural diversity is as important to human sustenance as the diverse life forms that make up the biosphere. “You might think of the ethnosphere as being the sum total of all thoughts and dreams, myths, intuitions and inspiration brought into being by human imagination since the dawn of consciousness,” he says. This is humanity’s great legacy, and the Ethnosphere Project at the National Geographic Society aims to understand and preserve it. In this conversation, we will examine environmental and other challenges faced by vanishing cultures and explore the ways a healthy ethnosphere contributes to human well-being.
WADE DAVIS
Wade Davis is many things—author, scientist,
adventurer, photographer, poet—but most importantly, he is a passionate
defender of life’s diversity. A friend says, “Wade’s one of the best
people to have in the tent. You sit around the campfire with him and
the hours spin by. He can transport you with his words to other times
and places. He’s a raconteur, no doubt about it.” His books, including
the international best seller The Serpent and the Rainbow, One River, and Shadows in the Sun, take readers into unfamiliar realms with astonishing intimacy. Following Light at the Edge of the World, he produced The Lost Amazon,
a tribute in words and images to Richard Evans Schultes, his teacher at
Harvard University. At Harvard Wade earned degrees in anthropology and
biology before completing his PhD in ethnobotany. He has received many
honors, including a Lannan Foundation Literary Award. Born in British
Columbia, he is a citizen of both Canada and Ireland and lives with his
family in Washington, D. C.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/council/eir/bio_davis.html
CHRIS RAINIER
Chris Rainier’s mysterious images of sacred
places and indigenous peoples have earned him recognition as one of the
world’s top documentary photographers. His mission is to document the
disappearing cultures and tribes remaining on the planet. His
photographic essays have appeared in a range of national and
international publications and are in numerous permanent collections
around the world. In addition to Keepers of the Spirit and Where Masks Still Dance, he has recently published Ancient Marks,
a book documenting tattooing and scarification around the world in both
traditional and contemporary cultures. From 1980 to 1985, he was a
photographic assistant to the late Ansel Adams. He now serves as
co-director of the National Geographic Society’s Ethnosphere Project,
is a member of the Explorers Club in New York City and serves as a
board member of Cultural Survival in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Chris
continues to lecture and teach worldwide about the significance of
photography as a tool for social change. He and his family divide their
time between New York, Washington, D.C., and the mountains and streams
of Colorado.
MARK GONNERMAN (moderator) is director of the Aurora Forum.