Carina Whaley - "Wade Davis on Endangered Cultures"

http://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cultures.html

This TED Talk really caught my eye from the message it sends to viewers. The speaker, Wade Davis, is a leader in the field of “ethnobotany” which is a study of the relationship between plants and people. The overall theme and subject of the TED Talk is really thought provoking. Davis is preaching about all the different indigenous groups he has visited in the world while he insists cultural diversity is the key to future innovation. He goes on to say indigenous languages are dying out everyday in remote parts of the world in favor of modernization. The purpose of his talk is to bring awareness to small communities that are so connected to the earth and with nature that seem barbaric but have so much to teach the western world. I am really interested in all kinds of history and different cultures so this TED Talk really focuses on the core of what I want to study in college. Wade Davis is an inspirational figure that spent time with poor, indigenous peoples before it was the “celebrity” thing to do. He has spoken all over the world to bring awareness to dying indigenous cultures. The one thing that really piqued my interest is the amount of traveling Davis gets to do. I really enjoy traveling and seeing the way different people all over the world express themselves.

Wade Davis is a leader in the field of anthropology and a specialist in the area of indigenous world cultures. Davis was born in December of 1953 in Canada. Davis received degrees in anthropology and biology and his Ph.D. in ethnobotany from Harvard University. Davis is also considered the leading “ethnobotanist,” the study of the “ethnology” or the study of cultures and the study of “botany” the study of plants. Davis specifically studies the relationship between indigenous communities and plants or the uses of psychoactive plants. His best-known published work is The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985), later adapted to a movie in the 1990’s, about the zombification practices in Haiti. Davis spent time living with voodoo priests in Haiti and learning their practices prior to writing his novel.

After his schooling, Davis was commissioned by the Harvard Botanical Museum to spent three years in the Andes and the Amazon as a plant explorer while living among the indigenous peoples. Davis has also published many photographs and documentaries from his many travels. Davis also worked as a park ranger, river guide, and forestry engineer conducting ethnographic fieldwork in his native Canada.

Davis has also served on councils of groups like Ecotrust that work to protect the diversity of the world. He is also the co-founder of the magazine Cultures on the Edge that highlights the plights of disappearing communities. Wade Davis is also a published journalist in magazines such as National Geographic and Condé Nast Traveler.

Wade Davis was made an Honorary Member of the Explorers Club in 2004 and will receive the highest award of the Explorers Club, The Explorers Medal, in 2011. Davis has traveled as a professional speaker for twenty years to museums, geographical societies, conservation communities, and pharmaceutical companies. Presently, Wade Davis is the Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society.

Wade Davis is a naturally curious and innovative person. In his successful career, Davis persevered in talking to indigenous people and really immersing himself into different ways of life. These qualities helped him dig deeper into the lives of indigenous people that allowed Davis to write many accurate and compelling best sellers about the encounters he had in the field and in his research.

After high school, I will be attending Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. My university has many opportunities for Study Abroad, something I am really interested in. I plan on spending a year abroad studying history and art history in Florence, Italy. I have also researched internships and summer jobs but the idea of attending an archeological filed school where students spend the summer taking classes and working on an actual digging site has really caught my imagination. I have researching enrolling in an underwater archeological field school off the coast of Spain after the first year of college to see if this kind of job, which combines my passions for history and extreme sports, would be interesting for me. The program is designed for students to gain practical experience in mapping, recording, laboratory processes, site reconnaissance, securing and surfacing artifacts from shipwrecks for study in a lab as well as lectures and classes in European archeology.

I would like to continue my education on into graduate school to earn a master or doctor’s degree in history, art history, anthropology, or archeology. But right out of college, I want to take a “gap year” and travel overseas in Europe. As a first job, I would like to be a travel guide for a few years in the ancient parts of Europe: Egypt, Italy, Greece or Turkey. After I have exhausted my patience with loud tourists, I would like to return to the United States and finish my schooling and either teach at the college level or work in a museum restoring ancient artifacts.

I have wide spread and overreaching goals but I want to explore my way to them. I am really interested in working hands-on with things I encounter. I want to live and active life that allows me to travel and new lots of new people.