Learning and Mending: Bison and Range Syllabus
Lauren Bon at Counterpublic's Circus of Life, Friday, October 24–Sunday, October 26, 2025
Lauren Bon at Circus of Life
Lauren Bon will be debuting work in collaboration with Corazón del Sol, Nina Sarnelle, Alex Tanasi and Milli Macen-Moore at Circus of Life, Counterpublic’s Convening this weekend, October 24–26, in St. Louis, MO.
This new piece tells the story of land and water, and white supremacy and ethnic cleansing, using American symbols: the bison representing the land, and the beaver representing water.
In honor of this work, we’re publishing the syllabus for Learning and Mending: Bison and Range. Metabolic Studios’s Learning and Mending series began in 2020, during the height of the pandemic and the George Floyd uprising. Together on Zoom, we would read through a curated syllabus that challenged the narratives and logic of capitalism. As we read and discussed the work together, we would stitch a representative embroidery pattern, which would then be assembled into a community art project.
Bison and Range was facilitated by Kelly Skye, an artist-ecologist whose work centers on designing and visualizing regenerative landscapes with post-disciplinary systems thinking.
While Ken Burns’ PBS documentary American Buffalo had not yet been released when we designed our syllabus, we’re including a clip here because of the way it handles the tragic plight of the buffalo, almost hunted to extinction. The entire series is available on PBS.
Learning and Mending: Bison and Range
This series looks at the biological and geological grassland ecozone which once spanned more than 180 million acres stretching across the center of the North American Continent, from its northern tip to the wetlands that flow into the oceans—and how this vast network of biologically diverse grassland has been radically re-terraformed by capitalism, manifest destiny, infrastructure, monoculture farming and extractivism.
In this series we explore the story of this landscape, commonly referred to as the Great Plains, and the symbiotic relationship the bison herds shared with this ecosystem over millennia before being nearly exterminated by European settlers. The First Nations of this continent are still deeply connected with the epistemological interdependent web of life and in this series, we will learn about the contemporary movement led by Indigenous people and their allies, to bring the bison back to their range, while confronting systemic colonialism in its past and present forms.
In this time of spring renewal, we come together to celebrate the deep knowledge of the herd, the biodiverse prairies of our continent, Indigenous wisdom and peoplehood, and continue to explore the systemic changes that are urgently needed for a more just and ecologically-sane future.
Week 1: How Big was Here?
The first week of the series introduces the deep and intertwined ecological histories of the grasslands of our continent, an area that is described as the “Great Bison Belt,'' before being radically altered by settler colonial societies. We begin our inquiry by asking: how big was here? And by exploring this vast territory that was once home to 30-60 million bison and an incredible diversity of plants and animals, all of which had unique and entangled symbiotic relations with this ecoregion.
We also will start reading the book titled All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life by the Indigenous activist Winona La Duke, who writes passionately about the “Buffalo Peoples, and Buffalo Nation” who coexisted with and cared for the wild bison herds and their prairie kin across this region for a millennia.
Readings
- Intro poem: “Buffalo Talk” by Henry Real Bird, from Bison: Portrait of An Icon by Chase Reynolds Ewald (Author), Audrey Hall (Photographer) with poems by Henry Real Bird (available on Bookshop or via Overdrive at SPL)
- All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life by Winona LaDuke (available at Haymarket Books or via LAPL)
“Buffalo People, Buffalo Nations”
“Buffalo and Prairie Ecosystems”
“Land Grabbing, Buffalo Killing”
- Prairie: A Natural History of the Heart of North America by Candace Savage (available on Bookshop or Thriftbooks)
“Where is Here?”
“Gradients of Grass”
Video: The Buffalo’s Importance
Guiding Questions
• 18 million square miles of grassland on the planet, 1.1 million square miles of grassland in North America - almost three times the area of Russia. What do these numbers mean? How can we actually grasp this scale in a more embodied way?
• “Prairies are the fabric of the world.” How is this metaphor useful to think with?
• What roles have vast space, railroads, and infrastructure played on this continent?
• At one point La Duke states: “Even in death there are lessons.” What do you think she meant by this?
• What are some of the interconnections between cultural diversity and biodiversity/ecological diversity?
• In the reading, Birgil Kills Straight from Pine Ridge, North Dakota says: “If you communicate with a buffalo, you’ll see that they’re much more intelligent than a human, just that they can’t articulate it as humans.” What is intelligence from your point of view?
Week 2: Of Bison, Prairie River Systems, and Wetland Sanctuaries
This week, we will read about the relationship the wild bison herds had to the vast river and wetland systems of the Great Plains, including the Mississippi river system, which is the third largest in the world and drains 41% of the North American continent into the Gulf of Mexico.
We also will learn about the ways in which these aquatic systems have been radically altered over time by the removal of the bison herds, the re-terraforming of the landscape for large-scale agriculture, and the building of dams. Yet even despite these massive interventions, the Great Plains still harbor thousands of wetland and riverine “micro-sanctuaries” that are vital refuges for an incredible diversity of insects, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and—most spectacularly—birds.
Readings
- Poetry: “Buffalo Songs” by Henry Real Bird, from Bison: Portrait of An Icon by Chase Reynolds Ewald and Audrey Hall, with poems by Henry Real Bird
- Activist Highlight: Rosalie Little Thunder
- All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life by Winona LaDuke
“The Buffalo are Prairie Makers”
- Prairie: A Natural History of the Heart of North America by Candace Savage
“Water of Life”
“Putting Marshes on the Map”
“Prairie Rivers”
Guiding Questions
These two readings share different layers of information about the health and biodiversity of the Great Plains. What do you make of this pairing?
What kinds of institutional blocks do you see that are preventing change on the Great Plains?
What do you think makes cattle ranching so destructive as compared to the wild bison herds?
Week 3: The Last Wild Herds
This week we read about the last remaining wild buffalo herds in North America, with special focus on the Yellowstone herd, now almost 5000 strong, living in the only location in the United States where free-ranging bison were never extirpated and have continued to exist in the wild (never being reintroduced). This is in part due to this area being first Indigenous territory and then a national park. However today, as soon as these bison leave the park boundaries, they are no longer protected and many ranchers see them as a threat, leading to them being targeted by rangers and other state authorities.
Rosalie Little Thunder, a Lakota activist and grandmother, was deeply troubled with this issue and successfully organized tribal members and other allies to protect this herd, who to this day embody the precious and ancient lineage of the wild bison herds of the North American continent. This week we will learn about Rosalie Little Thunder, her strength, her vision, her legacy and the Yellowstone bison herd which she dedicated much of her life to protecting.
Readings
- All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life by Winona LaDuke
“The Wild Herds: Wood Buffalo and Yellowstone”
“The Yellowstone Herd”
“Healing Community & Healing Buffalo Nation”
- Bison: Portrait of An Icon by Chase Reynolds Ewald and Audrey Hall, with poems by Henry Real Bird
“The Disappearance and Return of the Buffalo”
Text: Rosalie Little Thunder: “They Walk for the Buffalo People”
Guiding Questions
Why do you think ranchers and land managers feel more threatened by wild buffalo herds versus wild elk herds that carry the Brucellosis disease in much higher numbers? What do you think about this being called a political disease?
What do you think about the national park model of conservation and preservation? How might we re-think this model?
What do you think about knowledge that comes from dreams? I have noticed many native American stories that have to do with bison involve prophecy dreams. Have you ever experienced this kind of dreaming? Do you think this way of knowing is valued enough in modern society?
Week 4: The Return
This week we will learn about the concept of the "Buffalo Commons," which proposed a vast preserve in the heart of the North American continent where the native prairie would be restored and the bison herds could once again be allowed roam free. We will also see how this proposal is currently being supported and enacted on the ground in various ways, especially by Intertribal Bison Cooperative who are "a collection of 69 federally recognized Tribes from 19 different states whose mission is to restore buffalo to Indian Country in order to preserve our historical, cultural, traditional, and spiritual relationship for future generations."
Readings
- All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life by Winona LaDuke
“Buffalo Commons”
“Pie Oyate: The Buffalo Nation”
“Braids of a Grandmother’s Hair”
“Bringing Back the Way”
- Bison: Portrait of An Icon by Chase Reynolds Ewald and Audrey Hall, with poems by Henry Real Bird
“Saved Behind the Fence”
Guiding Questions
This phenomenon of rural depopulation is fairly widespread. What possibilities do you think will open up for these areas? What are some of the drawbacks?
How can the idea of the commons help us re-imagine our relationships, both with each other and with the land, and overcome issues of enclosure and privatization?
There is a recurring tension in these readings between that which is wild and that which is domesticated - it seems settler colonial societies really wanted to domesticate the landscape. Where do you think this impulse comes from and how might we begin to overcome it?
Week 5: Deep Time, Glaciers, and a Thundering
This week we will travel back into deep time and learn about the origins of the North American bison, and the prairie and river ecosystems of the Great Plains. We will meet a giant bison, Bison Latifrons, 50% bigger than the bison we know of today, with gigantic horns. We will also encounter early cave drawings of bison, ancient origin stories and the deep traces of glaciers as they shaped the early prairie landscape. By connecting us with the deep past, these readings illuminate the profound and rooted relationship the wild bison herds had with the plains ecosystems for many millennia.
Readings
- Prairie: A Natural History of the Heart of North America by Candace Savage
“Permanent Winter”
“Prairie Rivers”
- Buffalo Nation: History and Legend of the North American Bison by Valerius Geist (available on Thriftbooks)
“Life in the Ice Age”
“Ancestors of the Bison”
“The End of the Ice Age”
Video: Buffalo Dance by Acoma Buffalo Dance Group
Guiding Questions
When you look at the landscape, can you see deep time? In what forms does it appear for you?
How can deep time inform us in the present and help us think into the future?
The herd wisdom - what else can we learn from the herd?
Bison have survived incredible climate shifts; the herd shows great resilience to climate change. How might they embody both the past and the future as Winona La Duke indicates in the quote below?
“In the minds and hearts of the buffalo peoples, the prairie are where the buffalo are meant to be, the place where the wind calls their names. Buffalo are the animals of the past, yes, but they are also the animals of the future.”
Week 6: Where the Past and Future Meet
In this final week of the series, we will reflect on what we have learned over the last five weeks and explore where the past and future meet on the Great Plains. We will learn about current efforts led by Indigenous people to prepare for a future in which climate change will inevitably rewrite our collective histories, and explore what Winona LaDuke calls “a regional reversal of manifest destiny.”
“...an ironic reversal of history is taking place here. While non-Indians, farmers and otherwise, are fleeing the rural areas, Native populations are increasing…. These new demographics offer hope. What we are witnessing may be nothing less than the return of the Indian and the buffalo, the ebb of the frontier, and, in its own way, a regional reversal of Manifest Destiny. In the minds and hearts of the buffalo peoples, the prairies are where the buffalo are meant to be, the place where the wind calls their names. Buffalo are the animals of the past, yes, but they are also the animals of the future.”
Readings
- “The Seven Buffalo Bulls Become the Big Dipper” by Henry Real Bird from Bison: Portrait of an Icon by Chase Reynolds Ewald and Audrey Hall
- Prairie: A Natural History of the Heart of North America by Candace Savage
“Long Range Forecast”
- “Buffalo Nation - The Environmental Benefits of American Bison and Effort to Restore the Great Plains” by Winona LaDuke, Sierra Magazine (May/June 2000)
Video: Chief Arvol Looking Horse Speaks of White Buffalo Calf Prophecy
Guiding Questions
Is it possible to manage for wildness?
What do you think about the potential for coalitions between ranchers, conservationists and Indgenous peoples? Have you seen this occur successfully anywhere?
What are some of the takeaways that stuck in your minds from this series, what deeper lessons are embedded in the stories we have (past, present and future) from the Great plains, Indigenous activists and the great bison herds?
Thank you for reading along. This is the first post collecting readings and guiding questions from our ongoing Learning and Mending series, and we look forward to sharing them with you.