Gwen Nell Westerman, an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, is Professor in English and Director of Humanities at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and is coauthor of Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota.

“The journey backward becomes the journey forward in Gwen Nell Westerman’s remarkable debut, Follow the Blackbirds, revealing how history endures in the land, in the family, and in the self...”—James Cihlar, author of Rancho Nostalgia and Undoing

• Contents I. Follow the Blackbirds A Trade School Days Innocent Captives Mourning Song Dying of Thirst Linear Process Saving Scraps Dead End Early Freeze Henana Epe Kte Quantum Theory Genetic Code Feed Them II. This Is My Explaining Ceremony Red Earth Gathering Journey Flint Hills Release First Flight Where the Buffalo Roam No Contest Linear Perspective Monet on the Northern Plains Road Song Delisted Root Words At Spirit Lake He Keya Woabdakedaŋ III. Venetian Skin Essentials Why He Teaches the Language Dakota Odowaŋ Morning Song Winuna Wicaŋhpi Heciya Taŋhaŋ Uŋhipi (We Come from the Stars) The Lesson Tidal Force Owotaŋna Sececa Going Back Migration Wowicak’u Below the Surface Dakota Alphabet and Orthography Glossary Acknowledgments

Gwen Nell Westerman, an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, is Professor in English and Director of Humanities at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and is coauthor of Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota.

“The journey backward becomes the journey forward in Gwen Nell Westerman’s remarkable debut, Follow the Blackbirds, revealing how history endures in the land, in the family, and in the self...”—James Cihlar, author of Rancho Nostalgia and Undoing

• Contents I. Follow the Blackbirds A Trade School Days Innocent Captives Mourning Song Dying of Thirst Linear Process Saving Scraps Dead End Early Freeze Henana Epe Kte Quantum Theory Genetic Code Feed Them II. This Is My Explaining Ceremony Red Earth Gathering Journey Flint Hills Release First Flight Where the Buffalo Roam No Contest Linear Perspective Monet on the Northern Plains Road Song Delisted Root Words At Spirit Lake He Keya Woabdakedaŋ III. Venetian Skin Essentials Why He Teaches the Language Dakota Odowaŋ Morning Song Winuna Wicaŋhpi Heciya Taŋhaŋ Uŋhipi (We Come from the Stars) The Lesson Tidal Force Owotaŋna Sececa Going Back Migration Wowicak’u Below the Surface Dakota Alphabet and Orthography Glossary Acknowledgments