Indigenous peoples, those rooted to a particular place by history, language, and culture, make up only five percent of the world's population, though their unique cultures number in the thousands. Yet these highly-localized ways of life are buckling beneath the rapidly growing global culture.
With each group that is uprooted or assimilated, a culture vanishes, taking with it unique ways of living and irreplaceable skills and wisdom.
National Geographic is dedicated to supporting the study and conservation of world cultures. In 2003, the Society created The World Cultures Fund (WCF) to help safeguard endangered cultures from disappearance by supporting the work of archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, artists, and other professionals working in remote corners of the planet.
The WCF helps support a variety of projects targeted toward the conservation of world cultures, languages, rituals, and customs. A few of the key programs that were supported by the World Cultures Fund in 2006 are listed below.
All Roads Film Project
Stories from indigenous and minority groups often go untold. A platform to share these histories is critical to their telling; otherwise they are overlooked and lost. National Geographic's All Roads Film Project serves as one outlet where indigenous artists can find funding and bring their films, music, and photography to a larger audience. All Roads supports these under-represented filmmakers and photographers with seed grants and networking sessions, enabling them to tell their stories and gain more exposure.
With the All Roads Film Project now in three cities—Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Santa Fe (2007)—it continues to grow its audience, bringing these important cultural achievements into the mainstream media. The festival also has traveling strands, taking the films and photography to cities in the U.S. and internationally, including Vancouver, Canada.
Enduring Voices Project
The Enduring Voices Project is a joint initiative of the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute to study the world's most critically endangered languages, explore innovative ways to capture and preserve the knowledge found in those languages, and introduce public audiences and students to the geography of global language diversity and the language extinction crisis that humanity now faces. The current pace of language loss is unprecedented in human history. Over half of the world's 7,000 languages are projected to disappear within this century. Most of the languages that face extinction are unwritten, undocumented, and poorly known to science. The rapid loss of linguistic diversity is one of the leading socio-cultural and humanitarian issues of the 21st century, though it remains largely unknown to the public.
Afghan Songbook
In 1966, Louise Pascale was a United States Peace Corps volunteer living in Kabul and working with Afghan poets and musicians to create a children's songbook for the local schools. In 1968 the songbook was published in Afghanistan with illustrations by local children. Almost four decades later Ms. Pascale discovered a worn and faded copy of the songbook in her bookcase. Fearing it was one of only a few left, she made a commitment to return the songs, now almost completely lost from the culture, back to the children of Afghanistan. Today, as a result of Ms. Pascale's tireless work with individuals and organizations, and along with support from National Geographic, Ms. Pascale was able to print and deliver 3,000 copies of the songbook to Afghanistan. Qu Qu Qu Barg-e-Chinaar: Children's Songs from Afghanistan is a 24-page book accompanied by a 60-minute CD. All of the songbook's lyrics are in Dari, featuring musical notation and illustrations for each song.
Your tax-deductible gift to the World Cultures Fund supports vital endeavors just like these.
World Cultures Fund
