Taft’s Morning Meeting program is a long-standing school tradition that brings speakers from all walks of life and across the globe to share their experiences and perspectives with the Taft community. Tafties have heard from celebrated authors, scientists, and artists; academics, astronauts, and athletes; alumni; those who make the news, and those who report the news; those who are shaping our global future.

Taft recently welcomed Kenneth Reginald Otero Walker to campus to deliver a Morning Meeting talk entitled, “The Ethnobotany of Music: Multicultural Plant Knowledge and Migration.” Otero Walker is a multiethnic cultural activist and ethnobotanist who has spoken internationally on a wide range of topics involving plant and human interactions. His research lies at the intersections of history, anthropology, and the humanities with a focus on ethnobotanical knowledge and cultural heritage. He has led the Biocultural Diversity Collections project at the New York Botanical Garden, and the effort to bring underrepresented Asian herbarium collections in the US to digital life, thereby propelling biodiversity discovery through the All-Asia Thematic Collections Network.

During his Taft visit, Otero Walker talked about his work exploring music as a source of plant knowledge, and how researching multicultural traditions also led him to a deeper connection with nature and community, both locally and internationally. Members of the Taft community were invited to experience global musical traditions by engaging with various musical instruments during his visit.

Watch the full morning meeting talk below.