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Speakers Bureau

Wade Davis Cultural Anthropologist, Author

Photo: Festival

Photograph by Wade Davis

Photo: Wade Davis
Photograph by Mark Thiessen

An ethnographer, writer, photographer, filmmaker, and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence who was recently honored with the prestigious Explorer’s Club Medal for 2011, Wade Davis has been described as “a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet, and passionate defender of all of life’s diversity.” He has dedicated his life to studying endangered cultures and preserving the totality of traditional languages, beliefs, myths, and dreams that constitute humanity’s cultural inheritance—a legacy that he calls the “ethnosphere.”

Davis holds degrees in anthropology and biology, and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. His work has taken him around the world, through the Amazon, Tibet, the Arctic, Africa, Australia, Mongolia, Polynesia, and New Guinea, living for extended periods among indigenous communities. He is the author of 15 books including The Serpent and the Rainbow, Light at the Edge of the World, and The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World (2009), based on the CBC Massey Lectures, Canada’s most prestigious intellectual forum. His latest books, Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest and The Sacred Headwaters: The Fight to Save the Stikine, Skeena, and Nass, were both released in October 2011. In 2012, Wade will be awarded the David Fairchild Medal, the highest award for plant exploration.

Wade’s ongoing project is a campaign to protect the Sacred Headwaters in British Columbia. In 2013, Wade and fellow National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Mike Fay will walk across British Columbia and the Sacred Headwaters as part of Fay’s next Megatransect.

Popular Presentations

The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in a Modern World
Indigenous human cultures are going extinct faster than many plants and animals. Fully 50 percent of the more than 6,000 languages spoken today will cease to exist in our lifetime. With them will go the knowledge, stories, customs, and footprints of entire cultures. Davis leads us on an enlightening and gripping journey through ancient worlds, demonstrating how our world is richer for their presence and contributions.

Into the Silence
Wade Davis tells the story of the legendary and ultimately tragic 1924 British Everest expedition. Linking Mallory and his comrades’ determination to gain glory in the Himalaya to their bitter experiences in the trenches of WWI, Davis offers a compelling fresh take on history.

The Sacred Headwaters
Imagine for a moment one of the largest oil companies in the world drilling in the Sistine Chapel under the Vatican or building a giant oil and gas complex on the temple mount in Jerusalem, it would be inconceivable. But that is exactly what several multinational companies have in mind for the alpine meadows of the Sacred Headwaters, the birthplace of three of British Columbia’s greatest salmon rivers—the Stikine, Skeena, and Nass. Davis leads a visual journey through the Sacred Headwaters, from the mountains where the rivers are born to the sea.

Learn More About Wade:

Explorer-in-Residence Profile

Wade Davis Website

IMAX: Grand Canyon Adventure Film

Video: Light at the Edge of the World

“With only the simple instruments of his voice and his passion, Davis weaves a cloak that allows us to imagine for a moment the world as it might be seen through the indigenous imagination. It’s a deft feat and it transforms the literature of grievance, so familiar now, to a literature of love and almost celestial appreciation. He is our very own Massey shaman, breathing life into fragile worlds that are rapidly growing extinct, worlds that mark the boundary of the human imagination.”CBC Radio

Photo: Peru

Listen to Radio Interview With Wade Davis

Boyd Matson Interviews Wade for NG Weekend Radio Show

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Sam Abell
   Photographer Photo of Sam Abell
William Albert Allard
   Photographer, Writer Photo of William Albert Allard
Casey Anderson
   Naturalist, TV Host Photo of Casey Anderson
Peter Athans
   Mountaineer, Filmmaker Photo of Peter Athans
Robert Ballard
   Underwater Explorer Photo of Robert Ballard
Brady Barr
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Angela Fisher and Carol Beckwith
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Keith Bellows
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Melina Bellows
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Don Belt
   Former Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, National Geographic Photo of Don Belt
Lee Berger
   Paleoanthropologist Photo of Lee Berger
Joel K. Bourne Jr.
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Kobie Boykins
   NASA Engineer Photo of Kobie Boykins
John Bredar
   Senior Executive Producer, National Geographic Specials Photo of John Bredar
Kenny Broad
   Cave Diver, Environmental Anthropologist Photo of Kenny Broad
Dan Buettner
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Andy B. Casagrande
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Barry Clifford
   Underwater Explorer Photo of Barry Clifford
Jodi Cobb
   Photographer Photo of Jodi Cobb
Michael Davie
   Filmmaker Photo of Michael Davie
Wade Davis
   Cultural Anthropologist, Author Photo of Wade Davis
Dennis Dimick
   Executive Editor, National Geographic Magazine Photo of Dennis Dimick
David Doubilet
   Underwater Photographer Photo of David Doubilet
Sylvia Earle
   Marine Biologist Photo of Sylvia Earle
Frans Lanting and Chris Eckstrom
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Andrew Evans
   Travel Journalist Photo of Andrew Evans
Michael Fay
   Conservationist, Biologist Photo of Michael Fay
Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher
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John Francis
   Planetwalker, Conservationist Photo of John Francis
Jerry Glover
   Agricultural Ecologist Photo of Jerry Glover
Annie Griffiths
   Photographer Photo of Annie Griffiths
Kevin Hand
   Planetary Scientist and Astrobiologist Photo of Kevin Hand
Zahi Hawass
   Archaeologist Photo of Zahi Hawass
Fred Hiebert
   Archaeologist Photo of Fred Hiebert
Peter Hillary
   Mountaineer, Author Photo of Peter Hillary
Donald Johanson
   Paleoanthropologist Photo of Donald Johanson
Beverly & Dereck Joubert
   Photographers, Filmmakers, Naturalists Photo of Beverly & Dereck Joubert
Karen Kasmauski
   Photographer Photo of Karen Kasmauski
Mattias Klum
   Photographer, Filmmaker, Conservationist Photo of Mattias Klum
Emory Kristof
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Tim Laman
   Field Biologist, Wildlife Photojournalist Photo of Tim Laman
Chris Eckstrom and Frans Lanting
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Albert Yu-Min Lin
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Greg Marshall
   Biologist, Inventor, Filmmaker Photo of Greg Marshall
Boyd Matson
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Mireya Mayor
   Primatologist Photo of Mireya Mayor
Steve McCurry
   Photographer Photo of Steve McCurry
Kim McKay
   Environmentalist, Author Photo of Kim McKay
Mark Moffett
   Ecologist, Photographer Photo of Mark Moffett
Nalini Nadkarni
   Forest Ecologist Photo of Nalini Nadkarni
Cathy Newman
   National Geographic Senior Writer, Author Photo of Cathy Newman
Michael "Nick" Nichols
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Paul Nicklen
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Børge Ousland
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Bob Poole
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Victoria Pope
   Deputy Editor, National Geographic Magazine Photo of Victoria Pope
Chad Pregracke
   Environmentalist Photo of Chad Pregracke
Reza
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Jim Richardson
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Enric Sala
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Tim Samaras
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Joel Sartore
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Barton Seaver
   Chef, Conservationist Photo of Barton Seaver
Paul Sereno
   Paleontologist Photo of Paul Sereno
Brian Skerry
   Underwater Photographer Photo of Brian Skerry
Bryan Smith
   Adventure Filmmaker Photo of Bryan Smith
Will Steger
   Polar Explorer Photo of Will Steger
Maria Stenzel
   Photographer Photo of Maria Stenzel
Ed Viesturs
   Mountaineer Photo of Ed Viesturs
Spencer Wells
   Population Geneticist Photo of Spencer Wells
Rory Wilson
   Aquatic Biologist Photo of Rory Wilson
Andrew Zolli
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