Dr. David Harrison
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Prof. Harrison earned his M.A. and PhD at Yale University. He is a National Geographic Society Explorer, a Fellow of the Explorer’s Club, a member of the Daylight Academy (Switzerland), and an honorary research associate at the New York Botanical Garden’s Center for Economic Botany. He used to work at Swarthmore College as Associate Provost for Academic Programs and Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science. Prof. Harrison is also a filmmaker. Throughout his career, and in his role as a National Geographic Explorer, Prof. Harrison has travelled the world to make films and write books on the topic of Endangered languages and Indigenous cultures. Some of his documentary films include the Emmy-nominated “The Linguists”, “One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage”, “Manx: Reviving a Language”; etc… His book “When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge” (Oxford Univ. Press, 2007) has been translated into Arabic and Spanish.
Recent Submissions
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An ethnographic study of Vietnamese-Ukrainian identity
(2024-07-14)Vietnamese Ukrainians are a largely unstudied identity group that has recently attracted attention due to the impacts of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Our study examines Vietnamese-Ukrainian bicultural identity as experienced ... -
Calendar Plants in Southern Vanuatu
(2023-05-03)One noteworthy example of these is the use of “ecological calendars,” in which natural cycles are observed as guides in time-reckoning. In southern Vanuatu, what we here call “calendar plants” represent the majority of ... -
An ethnographic study of Vietnamese-Ukrainian identity
(Asian Ethnicity, 2024-07-23)Vietnamese Ukrainians are a largely unstudied identity group that has recently attracted attention due to the impacts of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Our study examines Vietnamese-Ukrainian bicultural identity as experienced ... -
Ethnobotany and Vernacular Names of the Lycophytes and Ferns of Tafea Province, Vanuatu
(2022-08)We conducted extensive fieldwork in the Tafea Province of Vanuatu from 2014 to 2021 as part of a long-term floristic study of plants and fungi, as well as analyses of changes in forest structure and plant diversity in ... -
Environmental Linguistics
(2022-10)Environmental linguistics is an emerging field at the intersection of linguistics and natural sciences. It recognizes the mutual relationship between cultural and ecological diversity, documenting linguistic structures and ... -
Wind Lore as Environmental Knowledge in Southern Vanuatu
(Mokpo National University, 2024-04-24)Wind lore constitutes an important domain of environmental knowledge in eight cultures of southern Vanuatu (Aneityum, Futuna, Aniwa, Nafe,Naka, Netwar, Nanu, and Nahual). Our study reviews previous studies in Oceania which ...
