Neither Wolf Nor Dog

Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder is a memoir by American author Kent Nerburn. The book describes a road trip Nerburn took with two Lakota men, weaving Nerburn’s personal experiences with lengthy speeches from the men on indigenous history and culture. Major themes in the book include The Role of Language in Oppression, The Lasting Trauma of America’s Violence Against Indigenous Communities at the hands of white colonizers, and The Power of the Western Landscape. At various points in the book, Nerburn repeats outdated and offensive stereotypes about indigenous communities. He uses the terms “Indian” and “native” to describe indigenous people from a variety of American and Canadian nations. This study guide reproduces those terms only in quoted material; elsewhere, it uses “indigenous” or, where possible, identifies speakers’ specific tribal affiliations.

This summary is based on the 2019 New World Library eBook edition.

Content Warning: This guide includes references to rape, physical and sexual abuse of children, infant death, and violence against indigenous communities.

Summary

In the memoir’s introduction, Nerburn reflects on his position as a white storyteller and advocate for indigenous communities. He imagines the book as an offering of respect that begins when a Lakota man named Dan contacts Nerburn to ask for his help writing a book. At Dan’s request, Nerburn transforms Dan’s fragmented writing into writing accessible and targeted at a white audience. When Dan’s friend Grover criticizes it, Dan insists they start over. The next day, Dan smokes a pipe with Nerburn and argues that indigenous people lost their lands because of a fundamental difference in indigenous and European ideas about land. Dan explains that neither “Indian” nor “native American” are appropriate terminology, since the indigenous communities predate the concept of America.

Dan explains that indigenous people are taught to listen before speaking, while white Americans equate speech with intelligence. When Nerburn questions the amount of junk and abandoned property on the reservation, Dan argues that indigenous communities have a different relationship to property than white people. Grover says that, as kids, he and Dan cheered for the cowboys to defeat the indigenous villains in Western movies; now, they resent white depictions of indigenous people. Grover warns Nerburn to be careful writing his book.

Nerburn considers quitting the project. When he reluctantly returns to the reservation, he finds Dan has left. Dan’s granddaughter Wenonah reveals that Dan was sent to an Industrial School. As Nerburn leaves, his engine begins smoking. Local kids direct him to the reservation’s mechanic, a man named Jumbo. Jumbo agrees to fix the car, but won’t give a timeframe. Dan and Grover appear and decide to take Nerburn with them on a trip. At a rest stop, they see a hippie family who inspire a lecture from Dan about white people trying to buy indigenous culture. In the car, Dan and Grover sing a Lakota song that makes Nerburn cry. Afterward, Dan criticizes indigenous people who willingly sell the sacred elements of their culture.

Dan and Grover take Nerburn to a powwow meeting. Dan reveals that he was given the special gift of speaking to white people. Nerburn promises to devote himself to their project. Leaving the powwow, Grover takes his truck off-road across the plains. When Dan and Nerburn encounter a buffalo, Dan claims that buffalo can hide or reveal themselves to humans. At length, Dan explains the difference between white America’s desire for freedom and the indigenous concept of honor, arguing that American history is the history of encroachment on indigenous honor. At the sight of a drunk indigenous couple, Dan says the federal government’s treatment of indigenous people has caused them to become victims.

The group picks up a hitchhiker who abruptly gets out of the car when Nerburn mentions Sitting Bull. Dan explains that inter-tribal conflicts instigated and exacerbated by white people have lasted to the present day. At the Sitting Bull Burial Site, Dan uses Sitting Bull as an example of a true leader, contrasting him with white rulers who seek to empower themselves. As the group drives past the Mobridge Indian Bible College, Dan speaks on indigenous religion and the suppression of the Ghost Dance movement—a subject that leaves him exhausted and angry. Nerburn grows increasingly uncomfortable with Dan’s silent fury. Grover pulls over, and Dan disappears into the night, chanting in Lakota. He returns in a calmer state.

The trio finally arrives at their destination: the home of Annie, Dan’s late son’s mother-in-law. Nerburn spends time with Annie and Dan’s granddaughter, Danelle. When Dan suspects that Nerburn is paying more attention to Danelle’s youngest son (whose father is white), he criticizes America’s obsession with race. Later, he uses the figures of Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln to argue that white history is more interested in writing down facts than preserving important lessons. The group encounters a ferocious storm, which Dan interprets as a message from the dead. In the Badlands, Dan describes the federal government’s systemic genocide of indigenous people. As they approach the Black Hills, the sacred center of the Lakota universe, Nerburn takes accountability for white America’s violent treatment of indigenous people, and asks the earth for an explanation. Dan and Nerburn spend the night at the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre, and Nerburn performs a sacred tobacco ceremony. The next morning, Dan announces that Nerburn is ready to write. The trio spend two days driving back to the reservation, where Nerburn retrieves his truck. Dan gifts him a stone eagle carving, and Nerburn promises to do his best with the book.