Ethan Wilensky-Lanford
Ethan Wilensky-Lanford is fascinated with a place most Americans can’t spell, much less find on a map.
The 22-year-old anthropology major has spent three months total over the past two summers getting to know Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, sandwiched between Kazakhstan and China.
He is writing his senior thesis about the country’s “bride capture” tradition, about which more later.
He grew up on Maine’s Mount Desert Island, but where he’s from isn’t as important as where he’s been.
“I definitely need to be out there,” he says. “I enjoy academic work, but it becomes too easy to plug yourself in and just read and write constantly. I would rather be out there experiencing life.”
He lives to travel. He defines himself by the places he’s been, which he lists on his résumé: Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, Trinidad, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Cuba, Japan, Turkey.
He plans out his trips in a rough way, but he follows his instincts and allows for moments of serendipity.
“Wherever I go, the thing I like to do is talk to people,” he says. “I have always been curious about how people live, what makes them tick. What makes me American? What makes someone else Brazilian?”
Wilensky-Lanford has kept travel diaries of his journeys. The entries are written with passion and curiosity, without a trace of cynicism — qualities reflected in his shy smile and easygoing manner. Some excerpts:
“Bukhara is pretty hip, as far as 4,000-year-old khanates-turned-tourist-meccas go. Not only are the famous blue-domed brick medressas and mosques superbly impressive, but the town is fun, to boot. . . .
“The sauna was hot, sweaty, and wonderful, but I didn’t have the full experience until I was flogged with our branches, which had been soaking in the antechamber. My host . . . intimidated me just enough so that I was ready to submit and lie down on the board, leaving my comfort up to the big man with the leaves. . . .
“Upon hearing that I study in Oregon, the eyes of the man next to me went wide. ‘Oregon?! I thought it was very dangerous there!’ Ironically, at this point in the trip I was only 250 miles away from the Afghan border, and even closer to the Khojent region of Tajikistan, which has become a major production zone for opium.”
Wilensky-Lanford learned about bride capture from women he met in Kyrgyzstan. The age-old practice involves young men abducting women — often with consent, but not always — to marry. At first he was struck by the strangeness of the practice. His thesis focuses on how it relates to Kyrgyz national identity.
His future plans are evolving, but will include travel no matter what. He’s exploring media internships abroad and considering the possibility of going to graduate school to study anthropology or journalism.
“Misconceptions and xenophobia are rampant the world over, and I feel strongly that anthro-pology and journalism could counter these tendencies. The trouble is, nobody reads what anthropologists write, and journalism has become pure entertainment,” he says. “I’m motivated to combine the two.”
By the way, Iceland, Chile, and Africa are next on his list of destinations.