4 minute read
Off the Beaten Path
In the series In the Americas with David Yetman, David Yetman and Dan Duncan take a fresh approach to travel and adventure in the Americas.
David Yetman and Dan Duncan visit people who can replace conversation with whistling, islanders who have cooked the same meals for 10,000 years, and pastoralists who live at an altitude too high for any activity except herding llamas. They approach volcanoes in Chile and Alaska, and ride rafts, boats, ferries, horses, and motorcycles to explore the terrain.
Yetman and Duncan meet people from all walks of life and let them tell their stories. And they film it all, so we can hear those untold tales and perhaps be inspired to wander farther afield next time we travel.
In the series In the Americas with David Yetman, which airs on PBS, Yetman and Duncan uncover the geographic and cultural diversity of the Americas and take a fresh look at the lands that make up much of the Western Hemisphere.
The show is an initiative of the College of Social and Behavioral Science’s Southwest Center, which seeks to define, illuminate, and present, through research, teaching, and publishing, the character of the Greater Southwest. The show supports the Southwest Center’s mission of education through cultural exploration.
To supplement a recent anonymous gift of $85,000, Yetman and Duncan are seeking donations so they can continue to guide us to the fascinating places and people of the Americas.
In season 6, the show went to Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state. Populated for centuries by peoples speaking Mayan languages, they retain their customs and dress – while struggling to protect their homelands. Yetman and Duncan were invited to film one of their annual ceremonies. “Everyone was so proud to share a bit of their culture with the rest of the world,” Duncan said.
EXPLORERS
Yetman and Duncan have worked together for more than 20 years, each bringing their own skills and passion to the show.
Yetman, a research social scientist in the Southwest Center, is the host and producer of the series and received Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2014 for his documentary television work. Duncan, a producer/filmmaker with the Southwest Center, directs and produces the series. For 19 years Duncan was also the director and producer of The Desert Speaks, a PBS documentary series, in which Yetman was the host for nine years. He has won 24 Rocky Mountain Emmy awards in directing, cinematography, editing, documentary, and feature categories.
The two form a mutual fan club.
“Dan grew up in Brazil,” Yetman said. “He has the cultural immersion that I have always loved working with.”
“David is the guy when it comes to relating to people from different cultures and backgrounds,” Duncan said. “He is an incredible person. It’s crazy how talented the guy is.”
Yetman said his passion for Latin America started when he was a child. “I grew up in a tiny town in New Jersey. I didn’t go to school for the first four years because I was ill. My father was a minister, and he had a parishioner who gave our family old copies of National Geographic. And something clicked in my brain that I wanted to go to Mexico.”
Yetman’s family moved to Arizona when he was a teenager, and he became enamored with the ecology of the Sonoran Desert. While he was working on his Ph.D. in philosophy from the UA, he was also spending time with the Seri Indians off the Gulf of Mexico, “much to the despair of my adviser.” He then spent 20 years outside of academia, including time on the Pima County Board of Supervisors and as executive director of the Tucson Audubon Society.
Yetman estimates he has now made over 300 treks to Latin American countries.
Monkey attack in Colombia. Dan Duncan pictured.
In 1992, Yetman joined the Southwest Center, and his research focuses on the state of Sonora, its indigenous people, their history, and how they have incorporated native resources into their lives.
Yetman hosted The Desert Speaks from 2000 until the program ended in 2010. Then Yetman and Duncan started In the Americas with David Yetman with a donation from the late Agnese Nelms Haury, which lasted until last year.
A FRESH PERSPECTIVE
When searching out stories for In the Americas, Duncan said they focus on places off the beaten path, places where tourists don’t normally venture. They ask the local people, “What would you like the world to know about this place?”
They also come prepared to follow the story where it takes them. Yetman recalls their trip to Ecuador, where they discovered that Chinese oil companies are scouring the ancestral lands of Huaorani people for petroleum. Duncan and Yetman arrived in the middle of a conflict, which Yetman said became so severe “we were the last people staying in the lodge.”
“We walked through the rain forest with the native people, and they showed us what the effect of the drilling is,” Yetman said.
“That is what we try to do in the show,” Yetman said. “Show not tell.”
SUPPORTING THE SHOW
In the Americas allows the Southwest Center to share the beauty and diversity of the Americas with people all over the world. The show is broadcast on over 100 PBS stations, with 92 percent market coverage across the United States, and is internationally distributed by Arte France in Europe. The show is also shown in schools and can be seen for free on http://intheamericas.org/.
The show’s crew of two has completed 70 one-half hour episodes so far. They travel lightly, using a local sound expert as an audio engineer as well as local connections to minimize costs.
Yetman and Duncan are seeking support to be able to finish season 8, including programs in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia, the Atacama Desert in Chile, and the city of Manaus.
You can support In the Americas with David Yetman at:
https://crowdfund.arizona.edu/project/9082
