Indigenous Voices: Glimpses into the Margins of Modern Development

The above is a synopsis video for Indigenous Voices: Glimpses into the Margins of Modern Development.
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Indigenous Voices will take you somewhere rarely seen by the public eye, into the mountains of northern Thailand.

There, communities of indigenous peoples have for generations been living fairly traditional lives even in the wake of an encroaching modern world culture. However, their traditional cultures are literally vanishing as modernity is shifting centuries of learning and indigenous knowledge aside.

We, step-by-step, learn about some of the effects that modern economic development has had on these communities, and we hear what some of these villagers have to say about this. We explore what this may mean for all of us humans.

Indigenous Voices is not merely a book of photography. This book encompasses years of the author’s field research now called The ‘De’ of “Development. It is intended as a textbook of sorts for those who are interested in gaining foundational understandings into the societal effects of globalization.

This thesis is engineered as a part-by-part experiential learning model. Each included community is undergoing a particular stage in the development continuum, and each part of this book will bring you to a new level of understanding into development related issues.

In addition to providing the general public with a window into the seldom seen world of mountain village life, this culture preservation project additionally explores economic development related effects on human society overall and how environment related changes alter relationships among ourselves and our natural environment.

Are you ready for this journey?

This book project, as a societal context, aims to document villagers’ daily lives, while also addressing the influences that modern  development is having on their traditional livelihoods.

To better understand northern Thailand’s indigenous peoples  and their overall situation, I’ve used the seamlessly paired integration of both text and lifestyle photography, prose,  and in-depth interviews — “voices” of villagers 14-84 years old and from three different ethnicities.

They open up  the doors of their homes and help us understand. Are you ready for this journey?

CLICK ON THE BUTTONS BELOW AND EXPERIENCE PARTS OF THIS BOOK AND THE “VILLAGERS’ VOICES.”
Where indicated, the left button will reveal a one-page “villagers’ voice” transcript, addressing various ‘social issues.’ …
The right button reveals this ‘voice,’ fragmented into sentences combined with village documentary photographs.

Above is a 35-spread cross-section view of the 300-page Indigenous Voices book.
(Use the button located on the lower-left corner of the control panel to view in full-screen mode.)

[Check out: “The Human Story in Every Place,” a brief article that encapsulates the essence of this body of Work. … Here is some academic framework: The Societal ‘De’ of “Development:” On the Road to Nowhere or Somewhere.  … I also explain some of this as a guest on a radio show called, “What’s Your Story?“]

This is a global issue. The economic market related decisions that humans have been making for generations are rendering, like never before, very tangible effects on our reality in terms of our natural environment and our overall societal functioning — some for the worse; some for the better.

I believe that we are at a pivotal point in our history.

This Indigenous Voices book is likewise the foundation for “The Moments’ Pause Project: Reminders of Our Natural Roots,” is a research, multimedia, and social capital building initiative that is tending to this world we all as a global community share.

During a global era of increasing political tension and societal unrest, this grassroots Project reminds us about our natural roots and about peace in social unity.

This is about momentarily slowing down from our seemingly incessant state of being “busy.” It’s about introspectively thinking before we entirely destroy our life-sustaining planet (and each other), and about meditating on the natural goodness that remains.

or with each older generation that the modern world is losing — their ‘traditional’ knowledge with them, amidst our supposed capitalist ‘development progress’ and a resulting homogenizing world culture — it is as though monumental segments of an ancient societal iceberg are sliding into the sea.

Can we take a moment’s pause from being “busy” and contemplate the significance of our varying cultures, the intrinsic value of our heritages, and about our capacity to live in harmonious community?

We are all indigenous to Planet Earth. Let’s take a moment’s pause then and tune into our more primal, indigenous, nature. Join with us in observing and preserving our natural roots. …