Unstuck Field Notes & Briefings
Daniel Everett on the enrichment to be gained from connecting with diversity
Back in the 1970s a linguist and missionary, Daniel Everett, arrived – along with his family – at the isolated Pirahã village in the Lowland Amazonia region. The purpose was clear: spending some time in the jungle, doing the missionary work of bringing the Christian God to the Pirahã people’s lives, and studying their language. But the tribe’s community, their language, behaviour towards one another, and way of perceiving time had a considerably more transformative effect on Everett’s life than he had on theirs.