BIRDING WHILE INDIAN

An Indigenous bird-watcher’s memoir about his hobby and his life.

Gannon, a professor of English and ethnic studies at the University of Nebraska and enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, begins by describing what he is attempting to create with this book: “the untoward anti-memoir of a mixed-blood fellow who began birding around age eight, when he discovered that he was a neurotic introvert who preferred to be away from other people. Birding was a ready escape from hearing his food-stamp-welfare part-Lakota mother called a ‘squaw.’ And nor could suddenly being sent to a Catholic Indian boarding school be an especially fortuitous event for any healthy continuity of ego consciousness.” In this chronological series of essays, all of which are dated, beginning in 1965 and ending in 2018, and range from heartbreaking to infuriating to joyful, the author examines his upbringing as a resident of the Great Plains, plagued by the “racist politics of western South Dakota,” and his fascination and involvement with a hobby he describes as “yet another Western colonial act of epistemic violence, however seemingly benign.” Gannon takes us along on his journey through a part of the nation that is often ignored or misunderstood, and despite plenty of heartache and sorrow, he offers much-needed moments of levity. A standout anecdote involves the author’s car getting hit by a pronghorn, who jumped in front of him “like some kind of crazed gazelle.” Reflecting on the incident, Gannon writes, ruefully, “my idealistic pride as a post-human environmentalist was rendered moot and pathetic.” Whether recounting his encounters with a great horned owl, sandhill crane, wood duck, field sparrow, bald eagle, white stork, or snowy egret, the author is consistently engaging and thoughtful about his place in a world that we share with a wondrous assortment of other species.

A fascinating search for personal and cultural identity.