DANCING IN A MINEFIELD
Cultural diversity makes our world a fascinating place. Each culture in the words of
author and anthropologist Wade Davis is a unique answer to the question of what it
means to be human.
Scholars estimate there are more than 3800 cultures in the world. Seems like a vast
number, but the reality is so many of those cultures are being lost, and their unique
ways of living either changing dramatically or vanishing altogether. A major indication of this decline is the loss of language.
Anthropologists estimate that every two weeks a tribal elder dies, and with him or her goes the last remnant of language and culture. which are usually passed down from generation to generation. Within a generation or two, many of humanity’s life experiences, beliefs, values, and traditions may be lost forever.
Globalization, technology, and climate change have changed the planet’s economic
landscape and relocated jobs – and lives – to urban centers to survive. This has
squeezed communities and languages out of existence. Mauritanian nomads, for
example, are one of the world’s last remaining nomadic cultures. But global warming, overpopulation and pollution have made survival in their desert environment next to impossible for these people and they have gradually migrated to cities.
That’s not to say that some changes are all bad – in fact, some changes may improve a culture by encouraging a standard of living that is more comfortable, nourishing, and supportive. I’m sure Mauritanian nomads want their children to be educated and have secure jobs. The hope is, however, that cultures can benefit from progress without sacrificing what makes them ethnically unique.
What has always intrigued me is the diversity that can co-exist -- and enrich –
communities. I celebrate societies made up of many different groups with different
interests, skills, talents, and needs: from the Huli in the mountainous terrain of Papua New Guinea to the Nagas in the hills of Northern India; from the San people in the deserts of Northern Namibia to the Dukha reindeer herders in the taiga of northern Mongolia; from the Shuar in the Oriente of Ecuador to the Bedouins in the deserts of Israel and Jordan.
Join me as I take you on a photographic narrative journey to remote and sometimes
dangerous places. Let us learn together about ways of life that expand our ways of
thinking, doing, and being. And let us do it before these communities change or vanish forever.
In Why Travel Matters, Craig Storti says: “You can be a tourist and have a nice time,
or you can be a traveler and change your life. I chose to change my life.
In October 2017, I stepped into Shughnan, a small Afghan village, half expecting Ismaili villagers throw stones or react in anger. Instead, I was greeted with curiosity, the occasional smile, and even a “thumbs-up.”
The travel experience, author Ben Groundwater says “The travel experience is at its best when it surprises you, when it forces you to question your assumed knowledge when it changes your worldview for the better In the words of Ben Groundwater, "People are grateful you’ve come to see things with your own eyes. The travel experience is at its best when it surprises you, when it forces you to question your assumed knowledge when it changes your worldview for the better."
I wholeheartedly agree -- in December 2009, I witnessed a vanishing way of life, that of the Bayaka forest people in the Central African Republic. So unusual was it, that psychoanalyst Manfred Kets de Vries considered Bayaka forest people a model of team cohesion for modern corporate culture. Leadership for the Bayaka does not belong to one person. All members of the group have the right to make decisions.
A few years later, in March of 1993, I shot a documentary featuring the Dogon people of Mali for the Journey Women: Off the Map television series. The Academy for Future Science reported that the Dogon’s harmonious community, the beauty of their architecture and art, and their elaborate cosmology give us reason to reassess our own ideas about what constitutes a high or low level of human development.
What I’ve attempted to do in this book is retrace these special journeys, drawing out the most fascinating aspects of the many cultures I have had the privilege of observing and being invited into.
author and anthropologist Wade Davis is a unique answer to the question of what it
means to be human.
Scholars estimate there are more than 3800 cultures in the world. Seems like a vast
number, but the reality is so many of those cultures are being lost, and their unique
ways of living either changing dramatically or vanishing altogether. A major indication of this decline is the loss of language.
Anthropologists estimate that every two weeks a tribal elder dies, and with him or her goes the last remnant of language and culture. which are usually passed down from generation to generation. Within a generation or two, many of humanity’s life experiences, beliefs, values, and traditions may be lost forever.
Globalization, technology, and climate change have changed the planet’s economic
landscape and relocated jobs – and lives – to urban centers to survive. This has
squeezed communities and languages out of existence. Mauritanian nomads, for
example, are one of the world’s last remaining nomadic cultures. But global warming, overpopulation and pollution have made survival in their desert environment next to impossible for these people and they have gradually migrated to cities.
That’s not to say that some changes are all bad – in fact, some changes may improve a culture by encouraging a standard of living that is more comfortable, nourishing, and supportive. I’m sure Mauritanian nomads want their children to be educated and have secure jobs. The hope is, however, that cultures can benefit from progress without sacrificing what makes them ethnically unique.
What has always intrigued me is the diversity that can co-exist -- and enrich –
communities. I celebrate societies made up of many different groups with different
interests, skills, talents, and needs: from the Huli in the mountainous terrain of Papua New Guinea to the Nagas in the hills of Northern India; from the San people in the deserts of Northern Namibia to the Dukha reindeer herders in the taiga of northern Mongolia; from the Shuar in the Oriente of Ecuador to the Bedouins in the deserts of Israel and Jordan.
Join me as I take you on a photographic narrative journey to remote and sometimes
dangerous places. Let us learn together about ways of life that expand our ways of
thinking, doing, and being. And let us do it before these communities change or vanish forever.
In Why Travel Matters, Craig Storti says: “You can be a tourist and have a nice time,
or you can be a traveler and change your life. I chose to change my life.
In October 2017, I stepped into Shughnan, a small Afghan village, half expecting Ismaili villagers throw stones or react in anger. Instead, I was greeted with curiosity, the occasional smile, and even a “thumbs-up.”
The travel experience, author Ben Groundwater says “The travel experience is at its best when it surprises you, when it forces you to question your assumed knowledge when it changes your worldview for the better In the words of Ben Groundwater, "People are grateful you’ve come to see things with your own eyes. The travel experience is at its best when it surprises you, when it forces you to question your assumed knowledge when it changes your worldview for the better."
I wholeheartedly agree -- in December 2009, I witnessed a vanishing way of life, that of the Bayaka forest people in the Central African Republic. So unusual was it, that psychoanalyst Manfred Kets de Vries considered Bayaka forest people a model of team cohesion for modern corporate culture. Leadership for the Bayaka does not belong to one person. All members of the group have the right to make decisions.
A few years later, in March of 1993, I shot a documentary featuring the Dogon people of Mali for the Journey Women: Off the Map television series. The Academy for Future Science reported that the Dogon’s harmonious community, the beauty of their architecture and art, and their elaborate cosmology give us reason to reassess our own ideas about what constitutes a high or low level of human development.
What I’ve attempted to do in this book is retrace these special journeys, drawing out the most fascinating aspects of the many cultures I have had the privilege of observing and being invited into.