Perceptual Diversity

Tara Waters Lumpkin, PhD, coined the term perceptual diversity in 1993 when working on her doctoral research in the field of medical anthropology in Namibia. Her research led her to suggest that just as biodiversity is necessary for the survival of the environment, different ways of perceiving reality are essential for the survival of the human species and, in turn, other species. She believes that loss of perceptual diversity, biodiversity, and cultural diversity, are interrelated and that current narrow ways of perceiving contribute to the destruction of other species and the environment.
While researching traditional medicine and community use of traditional medicine in Namibia from 1993-1994, Dr. Lumpkin became aware that there was no one correct way (such as the scientific method or the methods used by traditional healers) to perceive reality. Instead, there are multiple ways of understanding and perceiving reality, what she calls perceptual diversity.
Dr. Lumpkin theorizes that perceptual diversity arises when people learn to perceive reality from many different perspectives, which, in turn, enhances their abilities to co-exist positively with each other, non-human animal species, nature, and the global environment. The more realities a person is able to use, the more cohesive an understanding that individual has of that which he or she is perceiving. Viewing the world through the varied lenses of perceptual diversity can lead human beings to a higher degree of adaptability and evolutionary consciousness.

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