ChatDescription
Ornithologist and wildlife ecology professor at Clemson University J. Drew Lanham, Ph.D., will deliver VCU Libraries’ 2023 Social Justice Lecture.
Lanham writes and speaks powerfully on the implicit and overt racism people of color often face when engaging with their natural surroundings. He bridges the arts and sciences to create a new model of conservation and care for nature that includes space for diverse perspectives.
At VCU, he will discuss what it means to embrace the full breadth of his African-American heritage and his deep kinship to nature and adoration of birds. The convergence of ornithologist, college professor, poet, author and conservation activist blend to bring our awareness of the natural world and our moral responsibility for it forward in new ways. Lanham will examine how conservation must be a rigorous science and evocative art, inviting diversity and race to play active roles in celebrating our natural world.
The talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. in-person at James Branch Cabell Lecture Hall and remotely via Zoom. The lecture will not be recording or available for later viewing. Please register to attend.
Register
About the Speaker
He emerged as a national figure after Orion magazine published his “Nine Rules for Black Birdwatchers.” The 2013 essay, later adapted for video, is a satirical take on some of the challenges he’s faced as a birder. His experiences have included veiled threats and encounters with armed passersby while in the field. Lanham also provides specific ways to bring social justice principles into conservation work. His recent “Nine Rules for the Woke Birdwatcher” not only calls out overt racism but recommends adopting Harriett Tubman (who used an owl call to identify herself) rather than James Audubon as a bird-loving inspiration and renaming birds that are named after slave owners.
Joseph Drew Lanham is a naturalist, writer and poet who combines conservation science with personal, historical and cultural narratives of nature. Lanham's research and teaching focuses on the impacts of forest management on birds and other wildlife.
He brings this ecological knowledge as well as his perspective as a Black man living in the South to bear on his work as a storyteller, poet, and passionate advocate for bird-watching, outdoor recreation as well as environmental conservation and stewardship.
Lanham received a B.A. (1988), an M.S. (1990), and a Ph.D. (1997) from Clemson University, where he is currently Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Master Teacher in the Forestry and Environmental Conservation Department. Lanham is a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.