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October 2009 issue	In this issue Table of Contents Feature: Northern Peninsula Feature: Under one roof Feature: Irish moss The Inside Story Editor’s Notebook Reverberations À la carte Mosaic

(Photo: Wade Davis)

AWARDS
Shamans and secret societies

Wade Davis (ABOVE) has studied and photographed indigenous peoples around the world, including this Yagua shaman (TOP) in Peru. (Photo: Ryan Hill)

Knowing little about the South American rain forest and even less about plants, Davis set out to study coca (the source of cocaine) in some of the most remote reaches of the Andes. Over three years, he lived with 15 indigenous groups in eight Latin American countries and gathered 6,000 botanical collections. But his most notoriously dangerous venture was to infiltrate the secret societies of Haiti — he may be the only white man to have done so — to uncover the formula for potions used in creating zombies. Within 24 hours of landing in Haiti, Davis watched people handle burning embers the size of apples in their mouths during a voodoo ceremony.

“Haiti, more than anything else, taught me that different cultural beliefs manifest themselves in unique and remarkable ways,” says Davis, who detailed his surreal Haitian sojourn in The Serpent and the Rainbow.

A Vancouver native, Davis grew up in the Montréal suburb of Pointe-Claire and obtained a Ph.D. in ethno-botany from Harvard. He has travelled and lived with aboriginal peoples from the Canadian High Arctic to the jungles of Borneo. For his extensive ethnographic fieldwork and his contribution to our knowledge of indigenous cultures — many on the brink of disappearing — Davis will be awarded the Gold Medal from The Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

Davis sees himself as a storyteller. He has published more than a dozen books, is an accomplished photographer and has hosted and written numerous documentary films, many in his role as an explorer-in-residence at National Geographic in Washington, D.C. This fall, Davis will deliver the 2009 Massey Lectures in five locations across Canada. He will also speak at the Society’s 80th anniversary dinner in Ottawa on November 5.

His mission, he says, is to help “change the way the world views and values culture” by telling the stories of living and dynamic societies. It’s a topic that fires his passion, as he laments the loss of half the planet’s 7,000 languages in the blink of a generation. “Culture is not trivial,” says Davis. “It is the blanket of moral and ethical values that allows us to be civilized. If you want to know what happens when culture is lost, just look around the world.”

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RESEARCH
Sea change

Joan Marshall’s long-standing fascination with Grand Manan Island, N.B., was bolstered with a Royal Canadian Geographical Society research grant she received in 1997. She spent the next 12 years studying the 225-year-old fishing community in the Bay of Fundy, culminating in the publication of her book Tides of Change on Grand Manan Island, last winter.

In the book, Marshall examines the rapid pace of change on the island over the past 10 to 15 years, from the deterioration of the traditional herring fishery to the growth and subsequent decline of aqua culture and rising globalization. “All of the centralization policies of the government affected perceptions of islanders as to how much control they had over their lives,” says Marshall, a faculty lecturer at the McGill School of Environment, in Montréal, and a member of the Society’s Research Grants Committee.

Marshall estimates that the next five years will be difficult for Grand Mananers, as they deal with the shifting nature of their work, ongoing social problems and the loss of young people who are increasingly moving to the mainland. But the future isn’t all grim.

“Islanders have a strong independence streak, which is good but can be detrimental to wanting to make changes,” says Marshall. “They’re also very creative and innovative, and they’re really great problem solvers. I think there’s certainly hope in the long term.”

EDUCATION
Space and cyberspace

The Canadian Atlas Online (CAOL), with support from the Canadian Space Agency, has launched an interactive thematic module on space, brimming with fascinating facts on subjects such as how satellites help us understand our environment. It comes complete with classroom activities for all ages.

The CAOL has also rolled out 10 new themes based on the Historical Atlas of Canada. A series of lesson plans developed by the Canadian Council for Geographic Education — the educational arm of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society — will help teachers guide students as they navigate animated maps of Canada’s early trade routes or learn how our major cities evolved.

These additions to the CAOL are part of the Society’s contributions to mark Geography Awareness Week, from November 16 to 20. It is also sending classroom packages on wind energy, the St. Lawrence Seaway and assorted geographic resource materials to teachers across the country.

— Graham Lanktree

EDUCATION
Golden boys

World champions (from left) Graham Tompkins, Peter Brandt and Chris Chiavatti with RCGS President Gisèle Jacob. Photo: David Barbour

“I was thrilled. I didn’t expect to win gold,” says Brandt, the team’s captain. “There was a bit of pressure going in, because Canada has usually done well in the past. We were expected to medal.”

This is the second time Team Canada has earned gold at the World Championship. It has placed in the top three every year except for one since it started participating in the competition in 1995.

“They were an exceptional team,” says teacher Beth Dye, chair of the Canadian Council for Geographic Education and the Geography Challenge, who accompanied the students to Mexico City. “They won because they understood the necessity of working well as a team.”

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