Tompkins Weekly, 5-15-25, by Eric Banford
The Gayogo̱hónǫ́ Learning Project will continue their series of free, thought-provoking films by showing “Neither Wolf nor Dog,” based on the award-winning novel by Kent Nerburn, at Cinemapolis on Sunday, June 1, at 2:30 p.m. This initiative aims to “foster understanding and open minds by sharing diverse stories and perspectives of Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island (now known as the United States and Canada).”
The film will be followed by a Zoom discussion between Nerburn and Jim Wikel, Seneca-Cayuga Nation of Oklahoma and Advisory Board Member of The Gayogo̱hónǫ́ Learning Project. In the weeks following the screening there will also be a book discussion group to further explore the book’s lessons and themes.
Nerburn started his career as a history teacher at the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota. “In the three years working there, I feel in love with the people, the culture, and their way of understanding the world,” he shared via Zoom from his home in Minnesota. Part of his work was doing oral history books with his students who sat at the feet of the tribal elders to hear and collect their stories.
One of the people who got their hands on the oral history books reached out to Nerburn. “Dan” (not his real name) had stories he wanted to share with Nerburn, and out of their conversations grew the book “Neither Wolf Nor Dog.”
Being asked by “Dan” to write this book was both humbling and daunting to Nerburn. “A non-Native person working in Indian Country is walking a very fine line. You can’t really do it right. You’re constantly being judged and scrutinized. There’s a million different points of view among Native people. So I was worried and afraid, and it was hard but worth doing. It felt essential and I wanted to do this for the people that I love that I was no longer working for. This was my gift to give back.”
So Nerburn tried to keep his own identity while being as true as possible to the word and identities of “Dan” and everyone in the story. This approach earned him praise as “the one writer who can bridge the gap between Native and non-Native cultures.”
“One of the things an elder had told me was to always teach by stories because stories lodge deep in the heart,” he said. “So this is a teaching story using real people I knew, real places, real events, woven together in a story that should captivate the reader and at the same time educate them about the world I had been part of and loved so much.”
“I’ve always been a watcher and I didn’t want to impose my own thinking, my own Euro-American point of view on Native history and understanding,” he shared. “I’d rather let people speak their own story. I didn’t realize how important it had been to the Native people to lose their relationship with the elders as the teachers of the children.”
While working as a consultant to movie director John Irvin, Nerburn learned that, “you don’t tell the story with words, you tell it with the pictures, and the words enhance the visuals. The visuals are the film. And that was a big shift for a writer.”
“I’m fascinated with watching other people do their work,” continued Nerburn. “Watching Steven Simpson make this film was like a composer hearing a conductor translate his work. It’s a different art form, and I thought he did a wonderful job.”
When asked about the difficulty of straddling cultures, Nerburn replied, “Don’t presume you know anything. Recognize that you’re being given a gift being allowed into that other person’s culture. You also can’t pretend you can cross the line and ‘be them.’”
In a press release, Gayogo̱hónǫ́ Learning Project shared, “We sincerely hope that our non-Indigenous neighbors and community members will join us for these screenings made possible by The Community Arts Partnership. It is our intention that these films will offer a new lens through which to view the First Peoples – their vibrant cultures, the enduring impact of colonization on their lives today, and the vital contributions they continue to make.”
For more information, visit https://www.cinemapolis.org/movie/neither-wolf-nor-dog.
Eric Banford tends to a budding edible food forest and pollinator habitat in Danby, NY.
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