Activist Anthropology | Wade Davis
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- What is the role and purpose of Anthropology today?
Wade Davis looks back at the pioneering work of Franz Boas in the early 20th century that upended long-held Western assumptions on race & gender, along with definitions of "social progress". Boas and his students used comparative ethnography to advance “cultural relativism”-- the idea that every culture is as “correct” as every other culture. Boas showed that our differences can be completely explained by social conditioning, not inherent genetic makeup, upending a deep history of scientific racism.
This fundamental change in understanding laid the intellectual foundations for the political movements for racial, gender, and cultural equality in the 20th century. But over the last few decades, the field of Anthropology has turned inward, and seems increasingly unable to address global challenges like linguistic loss, cultural erasure, environmental destruction, and economic injustice. Davis offers ideas on how the field could change direction and reclaim global activism as part of its core once again.
Wade Davis is a cultural anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author, filmmaker and photographer. An Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society from 01999 to 02013, Davis is currently Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. He has published 22 books including "The Serpent And the Rainbow", "The Wayfinders" and most recently, "Magdalena: River of Dreams: A Story of Colombia".
"Activist Anthropology" was given on June 29, 02021 as part of Long Now's Seminar series. The series was started in 02003 to build a compelling body of ideas about long-term thinking from some of the world's leading thinkers. The Seminars take place in San Francisco and are curated and hosted by Stewart Brand. To follow the talks, you can:
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717 views. A mere 717. Wade is a glorious expresser of these things, but it needs more of us.
As i sit here with our home burned down from years of low flying helicopters (training they call it), i understand activism at it’s best even more so… 22 years of trying to change laws from top to bottom has been a challenge like no other… Having just beat cancer i now fight for same continuous change… That is ending prohibition in America and the world… Laws that harm more than they help should never be put into law… Your video popped up on my RUclips channel and i am very thankful it did… Thank you for your time and knowledge… Mark in Kentucky
Sasquatch exist!
Inspired and inspiring, Wade! Thank you.
Sciences should strive to be value-neutral.
Although inspiring, without his broader works and context, it may lead to a naive assumption to which I'm sure Wade doesn't aspire. The complexity of culture clashes is not simply the colonialists against the native peoples. Sometimes, those native people-cultures demand the genocide of others. To uproot those core values, both root and branch, may be essential to their own survival as well as that of others. Who's to make that determination? How is it to be done without harming the indigenous people's other cultural values? That is the nature of the complexity in my book.
Techno-carbon-colonialism has no intention to live much longer - and physical reality makes it impossible anyway.
Thank you, Long Now. Thank you, Wade Davis. Thank you, all who watch, listen, and love.
Wow, I forgot about Wade for a while. Haha that would be an understatement
Truly inspired, very inspiring! Thank you
Thank you Wade ... 💚
Thank u
There are many errors in this narrative by Davis. I'm an anthropologist and can say this is definitely less than accurate.
Science should stay clear of activism .
It will hurt actual scientists and spread a strong distrust that will encompass all who seek actual knowledge and not ideological advancement .
How would you feel about activists adopting a scientific approach?
When you start talking about Gaza you lose me.
Why