National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis at CWU

Every culture is a unique answer to a fundamental question: What does it mean to be human and alive.  National Geographic explorer and Scholar of the Millennium, and TEDTalks lecturer Wade Davis will lead us on a thrilling journey to celebrate the wisdom of the world's indigenous cultures as he presents “The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in a Modern World.”
 
Set sail in Polynesia with navigators whose ancestors settled the Pacific ten centuries before Christ. In the Amazon, meet the descendants of a true Lost Civilization, the Peoples of the Anaconda. In the Andes, discover that the Earth really is alive, while in the far reaches of Australia experience Dreamtime, the all-embracing philosophy of the first humans to walk out of Africa. Then travel to Nepal, and encounter a wisdom hero, a Bodhisattva, who emerges from forty-five years of Buddhist retreat and solitude. And finally, settle in Borneo, where the last rainforest nomads struggle to survive.
Understanding the lessons of this journey will be the mission for the next century. Of the world’s 7000 languages, fully half may disappear within our lifetimes. At risk is a vast archive of knowledge and expertise, a catalogue of the imagination that is the human legacy. Rediscovering a new appreciation for the diversity of the human spirit, as expressed by culture, is among the central challenges of our time.

For more information contact: Sarah Scott, President's office, 509-963-2114, scott@cwu.edu