>>PREVIEW
LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
Runs until February 28
National Geographic Channel
Our planet is in danger of losing much of its human diversity. Linguists agree that half of the world’s 6000 languages are under threat because they’re not being taught to children. Anthropologist, ethno-botanist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis considers the loss of human diversity to be nothing short of tragic.
In his new four-part documentary series for the National Geographic channel, Light at the Edge of the World, Davis takes viewers inside four fascinating cultures. In Peru, Davis goes on a sacred pilgrimage that combines elements of Catholicism and Inca mountain worship. In Polynesia, Davis travels with a group of modern day Polynesian way-finders who use ancient techniques to navigate the ocean. In Nepal, Davis goes on a spiritual trek through the Himalayas to try to understand how Buddhists achieve true enlightenment of the mind from suffering. Lastly, in the Arctic Davis experiences a polar bear hunt in Nunavut via skidoo and he goes hunting by dogsled in Greenland in a community that has decided not to allow skidoos in order to maintain part of their traditional culture.
"Our idea was just to take our audience to places where the beliefs and adaptations are so dazzling that just to know about them is to come away with a new appreciation," says Davis.
Davis believes it’s dangerous and arrogant for western society to assume that our culture is superior to other cultures that are often labelled more primitive or backward. He points out that North Americans could learn some valuable perspectives from other cultures.
"Our whole world view is only 300 years old and that shallow history shouldn’t just mean we have the answers for all of the challenges that are going to confront us in the ensuing millennia. The whole revelation of anthropology is that these other people aren’t failed attempts at being you, but unique answers to the fundamental question: what does it mean to be human and alive? And when asked that question they respond with 6000 different voices. That repertoire is the collective power of humanity to adapt to the challenges that are going to confront us in the ensuing millennia. We aren’t the paragon of humanity’s potential," says Davis of western society.
He says that while the western world may have made the most superior technological advances, that’s not necessarily true in areas such as spirituality.
"What Buddhists have in fact done is delineate through 2500 years of attention and experimentation a contemplative practice that they maintain if followed not only contains the promise of liberation from the realm of sorrow, but the certainty of it. They would say the efficacy of the science of the mind is a serenity experienced by those who pursue it," says Davis.
While the documentaries on Nepal, Tibet and Polynesia are uplifting because the cultures either have been strongly maintained – or, in the case of Polynesia, is being reclaimed – Davis’s documentary on the Arctic is the most disturbing. The Inuit hunters he interviews in Nunavut and Greenland have maintained their traditions despite the scourges of missionaries and residential schools. However, they now face the complete transformation of the landscape upon which their culture depends due to climate change. Davis says the Inuit have used their "imagination and genius" to survive in a brutally cold landscape "using cold as a piece of technology."
"The unfortunate reality is that having endured what they’ve endured in such a compressed timeframe now they’ve got to deal with climate change," says Davis.
Yet, the Inuit have already adapted to major change, transforming from nomads to living in settled communities in just half a century. Davis says the Inuit community in Greenland is a successful combination of traditional culture with the modern world.
"All of those hunters, of course they have beautiful little homes in the settlement. They have DVD players. They have cell phones. They’ve got access to modern medicine but they made a rule…. The decision not to take skidoos, as simple as that is, keeps the whole community together," he says.
When Davis considers North American society from an anthropological point of view, he doesn’t see a fully functioning culture.
"I look around North American society, particularly American society. The obesity epidemic, the level of violence, the mental health issues. I don’t see this incredible level of material achievement has translated for the most part into mental or psychological contentment."
Davis says our economic structure is also "tearing holes in the heavens, changing the biochemistry of the atmosphere and imperilling life on earth."
He makes a strong argument that the western world has much to learn from other cultures with different worldviews. |
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