Wade Davis

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Wade Davis is a writer, photographer and filmmaker whose work has taken him to the Amazon, Tibet, Polynesia, the Arctic and beyond. He served as explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society from 1999 to 2013 and is currently a professor of anthropology and the B.C. Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. In 2016, he was made a member of the Order of Canada.

Davis has published 22 books, including One River, a nominee for the 1997 Governor General's Literary Award for nonfiction, and Into the Silence, winner of the 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize. In 2009, Davis presented a Massey Lecture series entitled The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. His film credits include the documentary series Edge of the World.

Davis holds degrees in anthropology, biology and a PhD in ethnobotany from Harvard University. He has additionally received 11 honorary degrees, the 2009 Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, 2011 Explorers Medal, 2012 David Fairchild Medal for botanical exploration, 2015 Centennial Medal of Harvard University, 2017 Roy Chapman Andrews Society's Distinguished Explorer Award, 2017 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration and 2018 Mungo Park Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 2018, he became an honorary citizen of Colombia.

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Books by Wade Davis

Interviews

Anthropologist Wade Davis joins UBC

11 years ago

Duration 3:12

'Anthropology is the most important thing a young person can study'

The Current25:32PHOTOS: Anthropologist Wade Davis on disappearing world cultures

Wade Davis has spent more than a decade travelling the globe to visit the peoples, cultures, and languages, in danger of extinction. The anthropologist says the cultural life of our planet is under assault and deserves to be heard.

Ideas53:58Wade Davis: Light at the edge of the world

Wade Davis thinks we need to pay more attention to the values, the voices, and the concerns of Indigenous peoples. We have a lot to learn by listening more carefully. Wade Davis in a discussion with Paul Kennedy, with excerpts from a lecture at the Ontario Heritage Trust.