Joseph Roy Sheppherd

Joseph Roy Sheppherd was born into a family of California cattle ranchers and fruit farmers and from an early age has been interested in the diversity of cultures and religions in the world. He studied at the University of California at Riverside, and the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in England. As a cultural and linguistic anthropologist this interest allowed him to travel to remote jungles and deserts and reside among various indigenous peoples in Central and South America, Central Asia and West Africa. For a while he carried out underwater archaeological surveys and served as the curator of the National Ethnographic and Archaeological Museum of Equatorial Guinea. At the beginning of this long journey, Joseph chanced upon and embraced the Bahá’í Faith, which has proven to be the focus of his life for the past forty-something years. He is author of several books and continues to write and speak about his encounters and discoveries. Joseph divides his time among writing and projects of social and economic development. He and his wife Janet make their home just outside the ancient walled city of Trnava in Slovakia, where they struggle to fathom the nuances of Slovak grammar and syntax.