Ornithologist, conservationist, writer and MacArthur J. Scholar Drew Lanham to explore racism and the great outdoors during September 28 visit to VCU – VCU News

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Lanham, Ph.D., writes and speaks about the implicit and overt racism that people of color often face when interacting with their natural environment. It connects the arts and sciences to create a new model of nature conservation and care that welcomes diverse perspectives.

At VCU, Lanham will discuss fully embracing her African American heritage and her deep kinship with nature and the worship of birds. Through his varied roles – ornithologist, university professor, poet, author and activist – Lanham examines how conservation should be a rigorous science and an evocative art, inviting diversity and race to take an active role in celebrating and preserving our natural world.

The Social Justice Lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place September 28 at 7 p.m. in VCU’s James Branch Cabell Library Lecture Hall. It can also be viewed remotely via Zoom.

Lanham became a national figure after Orion, a nature and culture magazine, published its “Nine Rules for the Black Bird Watcher”. The 2013 essay, later adapted into video, is a satirical take on some of the challenges he faced as a birdwatcher, including veiled threats and encounters with armed bystanders in the field.

Lanham also suggests ways to integrate principles of social justice into conservation work. Her “Nine Rules for the Wise Birdwatcher,” published in Orion in 2020, not only calls out overt racism, but recommends adopting abolitionist Harriet Tubman (who used an owl call to identify herself) over naturalist John James Audubon as a bird-loving inspiration and renaming birds named after slave owners.

Lanham earned his BA (1988), MA (1990) and Ph.D. (1997) from Clemson, where he is a former professor emeritus of wildlife ecology and senior lecturer in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation. He was also honored as a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.

Lanham’s research and teaching focus on the impact of forest management on birds and other wildlife. The blend of his ecological knowledge and perspective as a black man living in the South influences his work as a storyteller, poet, and advocate for birding, outdoor recreation, conservation, and environmental stewardship.

In his 2017 book, “The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature,” Lanham traces his passion for birds and nature back to the family’s small farm in rural South Carolina. Her lyrical descriptions of childhood explorations around the farm are a hallmark of her curatorial philosophy: the one-to-one connection. Lanham says the combination of scientific facts and emotional connections to nature can more effectively encourage conservation action.

An essential part of connecting head-to-heart is understanding people’s historical and cultural associations with the land, a point he illustrates through the painful legacy of slavery attached to his family’s farm. Like much of the land in the South, before his family owned, shaped and maintained the farm, slavers forced Lanham’s ancestors to work it. Jim Crow segregation is a frequent subject of her grandmother’s stories of farm life, which her family lost after her father’s death – a common experience in an area where policies and practices frequently deprive African-American families of their land.

Lanham continues to investigate how African Americans’ historic relationship to the land influences their current perceptions of nature, as well as its appreciation and stewardship. This work is part of a larger effort to expand, diversify and sustain engagement with the natural world

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