Spirits of the Air: Birds and American Indians in the South

Spirits of the Air:
Birds and American Indians in the South

Tuesday, March 31, 5:30 p.m.

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at

Manning Hall, Main Green, Brown University

Shepard Krech III, professor of anthropology and director of the Haffenreffer Museum at Brown University, will share thoughts on his most recent book — the fi rst major synthesis of the neglected relationship of birds and North American Indians. On the American southeast, Spirits of the Air details how Native people incorporated birds in diet and material culture, as well as how birds fi gured in politics, war, religion, myth, ceremony, and incantations for good or malevolent ends. A major synthesis of environmental history by a scholar who has also been a life-long birder, this work is lauded in advance notices by historians and anthropologists and environmental historians as “superbly researched” (Raymond Fogelson) and “insightful” (Carolyn Merchant) and by fi eld ornithologists as a “wonderful surprise” (Donald and Lillian Stokes) and a “landmark” work (Kenn Kaufman). Be among the first to purchase Spirits of the Air.

Reception and book signing will follow the lecture.