Independent Researcher

Executive Director, Izilwane

Thesis Title: Dissertation: Perceptual Diversity and its Implications for Development—Based on Research among Traditional Healers and upon Community Use of Traditional Medicine in Namibia, March 1996

About

TARA WATERS LUMPKIN, PhD, is exploring a new ecological paradigm based on the relationship of human beings with other species and the natural world.

She is currently Executive Director of Izilwane, which is run under the non-profit Perception International.

Izilwane’s vision is to connect human beings to other species and the global ecosystem by creating new ways for human beings to perceive themselves in relationship to the natural world. The Izilwane project explores, researches, documents, and educates the public about the interrelationships between human beings, animals, and the environment with the goal of reducing the human footprint on planet earth. We have begun this process by offering a multimedia platform called Izilwane. Visit us at www.Izilwane.org. Check us out on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Izilwane/97045372947.

We also are building a team of “global citizen eco-reporters” and are looking for research papers, articles, photo essays, short video clips and pod casts on our theme. Our submission guidelines are at: http://www.izilwane.org/submission-guidelines.html. Help us to connect the human animal to the global ecosystem.

Tara is an anthropologist with a background in environmental, psychological, and medical anthropology. Dr. Lumpkin has worked as a consultant for organizations such as Conservation International, the United States Agency for International Development, and UNICEF. She is President and Co-founder of the non-profit Perception International, which promotes biological, cultural, and “perceptual diversity” worldwide. Tara coined the term “perceptual diversity” in 1993 when completing her doctoral research in Namibia. She posits that “perceptual diversity” arises when people learn to perceive reality from many different perspectives, which then, in turn, enhances their abilities to co-exist positively with each other, non-human animal species, nature, and the global environment.

Tara has worked as an environmental journalist, professor of writing and media, and in communications and has published journal articles, non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. In addition, she is a certified somatic experiencing practitioner, who has guided clients through the process of healing from trauma and she is a life coach.

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