Biographie
Anthropologist and botanical explorer Wade Davis earned his Ph.D. in ethnobotany from Harvard University. Affiliated primarily with the Harvard Botanical Museum, he spent over three years exploring plants in the Amazon and Andes, living among 15 indigenous groups across eight Latin American countries and collecting approximately 6,000 botanical specimens. His research later led him to Haiti to study folk practices linked to the creation of zombies, resulting in his books Passage of Darkness (1988) and The Serpent and the Rainbow (1986), the latter becoming an international bestseller translated into 10 languages and adapted into a film by Universal Studios. Davis has written five additional books, including One River (1996) and Shadows in the Sun (1998). Born on December 14, 1953, in British Columbia, he holds dual citizenship in Canada and Ireland. His professional experience includes roles as a guide, park ranger, and forestry engineer. He has conducted ethnographic research among indigenous groups in northern Canada and published both scientific and popular articles on topics such as Haitian voodoo, Amazonian mythology and religion, the global biodiversity crisis, traditional uses of psychotropic substances, and South American Indian ethnobotany. His photography has been widely published. More recently, Davis's work has taken him to Peru, Borneo, Tibet, the high Arctic, Venezuela's Orinoco Delta, and northern Kenya. He is a research associate at the Institute of Economic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden and serves on the boards of the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecotrust, Future Generations, and Cultural Survival—NGOs committed to conservation-based development and safeguarding cultural and biological diversity. His television work includes hosting and co-writing Earthguide, a 13-part environmental series, and writing for documentaries such as Spirit of the Mask, Cry of the Forgotten People, and Forests Forever.
