Maria Fadiman
{{short description|American ethnobotanist}}
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| name = Maria Fadiman
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| birth_name = Maria Grace Fadiman
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|7|4}}
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| occupation = Professor
| nationality = American
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| genre = ethnobotanist
| employer = Florida Atlantic University
| relatives = James Fadiman (father)
Dorothy Fadiman (mother)
Anne Fadiman (first cousin once removed)
Clifton Fadiman (granduncle)
William James Sidis (first cousin twice removed)
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Maria Grace Fadiman (born July 4, 1969) is an American ethnobotanist and Professor of Geosciences at Florida Atlantic University.{{Citation |last=Fadiman |first=Maria |title=Professor Maria Fadiman's FAU Page|publisher=Florida Atlantic University, Department of Geosciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science |place=Boca Raton, Florida|url= http://www.geosciences.fau.edu/people/fadiman.php| access-date=October 7, 2017}}{{Citation |last=Fadiman |first=Maria |year=2020 |title=Maria Fadiman, Ph.D., on Promotion to Professor |place=Boca Raton, Florida|url= http://www.geosciences.fau.edu/news/fadiman-promotion/index.php| access-date=May 26, 2020}}
Biography
Fadiman is the daughter of documentary filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman and psychologist and author James Fadiman.{{cite web | url=http://concentric.org/the_film_team.html | title=Concentric Media - The Film Team|access-date=August 28, 2013|publisher=Concentric Media}} Clifton Fadiman was her granduncle.{{cite book |last=Wolfe |first=Tom| title=The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test |page=[https://archive.org/details/electrickoolaida0000wolf_z7i0/page/6/mode/2up 6]|year=1968|publisher=Farrar Straus Giroux}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/07/arts/william-fadiman-90-writer-and-producer.html | work=New York Times | title=William Fadiman, 90, Writer and Producer | date=7 August 1999 |access-date=November 3, 2013}}{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-aug-03-mn-62136-story.html
|title=Obituaries : William Fadiman; Hollywood Producer | work=Los Angeles Times|date=3 August 1999 | access-date=29 January 2023}} She is a distant cousin of Anne Fadiman and of William James Sidis, a child prodigy.{{cite web|url=http://www.quantonics.com/The_Prodigy_Review.html|title=The Prodigy | access-date=30 January 2023}}
Education and career
Fadiman received her AB from Vassar College,{{cite web | url=http://stories.vassar.edu/2017/170130-maria-fadiman.html | publisher=Vassar College | title=Maria Fadiman '91 Where Humans and Plants Connect | year=2017 | access-date=Mar 1, 2017}} her MA from Tulane University and her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. She was the recipient of an NSF Grant in 2000–2001, which she used for her dissertation research in Ecuador.{{Citation |last=Fadiman |first=Maria |title= The Committee-Approved Version of Maria Grace Fadiman's Dissertation Entitled: "Fibers from the Forest: Mestizo, Afro-Ecuadorian and Chachi Ethnobotany of Piquigua (Heteropsis ecuadorensis, Araceae) and Mocora (Astrocaryum standleyanum, Arecaceae) in Northwestern Ecuador"(pdf) |publisher= University of Texas, Austin|location=Austin, Texas |page=6 |url= http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/565/fadimanmg036.pdf |date=August 2003| access-date=Mar 29, 2012}}
Fadiman joined the faculty at Florida Atlantic University in 2004. Before her appointment at FAU, she served as part-time faculty at Sonoma State University.
Since 2006, Fadiman is recognized as an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic.{{cite web | url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/find-explorers/maria-grace-fadiman/| title=National Geographic Explorer Directory - Maria Grace Fadiman, 2006 Emerging Explorer | access-date=July 25, 2018|work=National Geographic}} {{cite web | url=https://explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org/maria-grace-fadiman | title=Grantee 2022 - present, Maria Grace Fadiman | access-date=May 20, 2023 | work=National Geographic}} She was one of only eight Explorers honored by National Geographic in 2006.
Fadiman's research specializes in Latin American and African ethnobotany, with a focus on rainforest cultures. Her research and publications examine the various ways that indigenous peoples interact with plants in their daily lives, with particular emphasis on the economy and on gender roles.
In Starbucks The Way I See It No 233 she said, "I used to think that going to the jungle made my life an adventure. However, after years of unusual work in exotic places, I realize that it is not how far off I go, or how deep into the forest I walk that gives my life meaning. I see that living life fully is what makes life – anyone’s life, no matter where they do or do not go – an adventure."{{citation|url=http://earlthornton.blogspot.com/search?q=fadiman|title=Early Morning Starbucks|work=Life in the Vast Lane|date=April 2, 2007|access-date=March 29, 2012}}
Recent publications
- 2005, Cultivated Food Plants: Culture and Gendered Spaces of Colonists and the Chachi in Ecuador. Journal of Latin American Geography 4(1): 43-57.
- 2004, Management, Cultivation and Domestication of Weaving Plants: Heteropsis and Astrocaryum in the Ecuadorian Rain Forest. The California Geographer 44:1-19.
- 2001, Hat weaving with Jipi, Carludovica palmate, (Cyclanthaceae) in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. The Journal of Economic Botany 55(4):539-544.
References
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External links
- [https://www.mariafadiman.com/ Professor Maria Fadiman's webpage]
- [http://geosciences.fau.edu/people/fadiman.php Professor Maria Fadiman's webpage at FAU]
- [https://explorers.nationalgeographic.org/directory/maria-grace-fadiman Professor Fadiman's biography from National Geographic's Emerging Explorers]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY2UWUa5j7Y "Finding Balance: People, Plants, and Culture in the Amazon"] TEDxBerkeley, 4 Feb 2012
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20130211000522/http://www.drunkenboat.com/db16/maria-fadiman "Rainforest Guiding: Whose Idea Was This Anyway?"] Drunken Boat, 16 Jan 2013
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st4K_RYw16E "The intimate relationship of plants and people"] TEDxCancún, 6 Nov 2015
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBUd2e7LsJs Conversation with a Geographer: Dr. Maria Fadiman] 10 May 2016
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Category:21st-century American botanists
Category:American women botanists
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:Vassar College alumni
Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni
Category:Tulane University alumni
Category:Florida Atlantic University faculty
Category:Sonoma State University faculty