Module #3, Post #4

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

I was going through some TED talks when I came across this particular one about the diversity of the world’s indigenous cultures and how they are rapidly disappearing. I found this video to be exceptionally positive and interesting. Wade Davis not only gave an inspiring speech about the endangered cultures of the world, but provide snippets of information to provoke curiosity and hopefully acceptance of other cultures.

He also talked about how when we were born there were over 6000 languages spoken in the world and that only half exist today. He spoke about language as being a crucial part of a culture. He said that “language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules. A language is a flash of the human spirit. It’s a vehicle through which the soul of each particular culture that comes into the material world. Every language is an old growth forest of the mind…”

In his speech, he also referred to ethnocide… a word I had never heard of before, but understand completely and believe to be sad. One part that really stuck out for me was the fact that he said that change and technology do not threaten a culture; it’s the political power of those that want a monolithic culture as opposed to a pluralistic one.

He states that story telling can change the world and I truly believe that if we continue to tell the stories of our elders, then these endangered cultures will survive.

He concludes his speech by stating that the world deserves to exist in a diverse way and that all the wisdom of all people can contribute to the well-being of the human race. I think that this TED talk can definitely contribute to research on Indigenous knowledge, media, and community reality.

This TED talk led to two others that I thought might be of interest as well:

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

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